31 August 2023
One of the St. Paul teens charged in the killing of Michael Brasel, who was shot as he tried to stop someone from rummaging through his car in front of his family’s St. Anthony Park home, has pleaded guilty to murder in adult court.
Kle Swee, 17, waived his adult certification hearing Wednesday in Ramsey County District Court and then pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder in the May 6 killing of Brasel, a 44-year-old husband, father of two boys and youth hockey coach.
Swee, who turns 18 on Oct. 18, appeared in court before Judge JaPaul Harris with his attorney Kristen Turner and parents by his side. An interpreter translated the hearing into the Karen language.
Family members of Kle Swee and Brasel, including Brasel’s wife, Hilary, sat on either side of the courtroom gallery.
Kle Swee, who was wearing a gray sweatshirt with his hair in a topknot, replied to questions from the judge with, “Yes, your honor.”
In exchange for waiving the certification hearing, which had been set for Wednesday, the prosecution agreed to dismiss a second charge of second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony.
Madelyn Adams, assistant Ramsey County attorney, said in court that the state will be seeking the maximum 25½-year prison sentence permitted under the plea agreement.
The defense will be allowed to argue for a durational departure.
Sentencing was set for Oct. 4.
Prosecutors charged Kle Swee’s friend Ta Mla, 18, with aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder nearly a month after Kle Swee was charged. Ta Mla has pleaded not guilty, and is scheduled to return to court Sept. 21.
The shooting
Officers who responded to the shooting at 7:21 a.m. May 6 found Brasel in his front yard in the 2300 block of Chilcombe Avenue. Hilary Brasel, a registered nurse, gave him chest compressions and yelled for help. Michael Brasel died at 8:04 a.m. at the hospital of multiple gunshot wounds.
The Brasels’ two children were fifth- and eighth-graders at the time. One was inside the house when he heard his dad yell from outside, “What are you doing?” followed by gunshots.
Officers saw that the family’s Ford Flex, which was parked on the street, appeared to have been rummaged through, with a small bag and a phone-charging cable near the front seat. Testing linked DNA on the bag to Ta Mla, the criminal complaints say.
Another neighbor from a nearby street discovered their vehicle had been rummaged through before the shooting. Several items were removed from the center console of the vehicle. The same black vehicle involved in the murder was seen on surveillance video near the neighbor’s car.
Police got a break in the case from a car bumper that was left behind nearby, with the license plate still attached, which led them to Kle Swee.
Police on June 6 stopped a vehicle that Ta Mla was a passenger in and arrested him. They found a Glock in the vehicle, which he later told police was the same gun used to shoot Brasel.
Police asked Ta Mla about the incident with Kle Swee. Ta Mla said he was looking through a Ford Flex for a phone charger.
The Ford was registered to Brasel and his wife. Michael Brasel “surprised Ta Mla and grabbed Ta Mla from behind,” Ta Mla told police, the charges say. “Ta Mla heard one or two shots. After the shots were fired, Ta Mla drove off.”
“When pressed, Ta Mla eventually admitted there was a third person sitting behind the driver’s seat in the Honda,” the charges say. “Ta Mla denied knowing the man’s name. He asked (Kle Swee) and the other man what happened because they were supposed to be acting as lookouts. (Kle Swee) apologized and said, ‘My bad, bro. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.’”
Ta Mla’s girlfriend reported that Ta Mla was with Kle Swee rummaging through cars “when a man came out and put Ta Mla in a chokehold” and Kle Swee shot the man, the charges say.
Ta Mla told police that Kle Swee felt bad for shooting Brasel. He said they talked about it and he told Kle Swee “that God knows what they did,” the charges say. “Ta Mla said (Brasel) was an innocent guy.”
Location analysis on Kle Swee’s and Ta Mla’s cellphones placed them near Brasel’s home at the time of the shooting, according to the charges. It also indicated Kle Swee returned home in St. Paul between 7:45 a.m. and 7:50 a.m. on May 6, and Ta Mla’s phone was still with him.
Other evidence
Officers located latent prints of a 20-year-old man on Kle Swee’s car and brought him in for questioning, according to the criminal complaint filed against Kle Swe in adult court Wednesday. The man admitted to being a rear passenger in Kle Swee’s car at the time of killing and said Ta Mla was the driver and Kle Swee was the front-seat passenger. A third passenger was seated behind Kle Swee.
The man said they were driving around and stealing from random vehicles. He said they parked next to Brasel’s car and that Ta Mla got out of Kle Swee’s car to look through it. Everyone else remained in Kle Swee’s car.
He said Brasel surprised them and grabbed hold of Ta Mla. He then heard two gunshots and saw Kle Swee pointing a gun toward Brasel. He described the gun as a Glock handgun. “He stated he and the other back seat passenger were surprised by what occurred and didn’t know anyone had a gun,” the complaint says.
He eventually identified a fourth passenger as a 23-year-old man. In an interview with police, the man said he saw Kle Swee raise a black pistol with both hands, point it at Brasel and fire multiple times through an open car window, the complaint says. He saw Brasel fall.
Sgt. Mike Ernster, a St. Paul police spokesman, said Wednesday that the investigation remains open but they do not anticipate bringing cases to the county attorney’s office for possible charges against anyone else. “If new information is developed through this process, that could change, but it is not expected as of right now,” he said.
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