Bakdash, of Roseville, to Plead 'Voluntary Intoxication' Defense in Murder Trial Next Week

Defense attorneys for Roseville native Timothy Bakdash, who has been charged with killing a University of Minnesota student with his car last April, will argue that he was “voluntarily intoxicated” , which is scheduled to begin on Feb. 21.

Bakdash admitted to driving his car into a crowd of Dinkytown pedestrians, with the intent to kill three University of Minnesota students, according to a criminal complaint filed by a Minneapolis police sergeant.

Benjamin Van Handel, a U of M senior, was carried 50 feet on the hood of a car before striking his head on a utility pole. He died six days later from injuries incurred during the April 15 incident.

During a pre-trial conference held today at the Hennepin County Courthouse, Bakdash sat in silence, clad in an orange jumpsuit and shaking his head softly from side to side when his attorney, Joe Tamburino, said he was facing one count of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder in the first degree.

If convicted Bakdash could serve the rest of his life in prison.

In the pre-trial conference before Judge Daniel Mabley, Tamburino requested that an expert be allowed to testify to whether Bakdash was intoxicated.

Tamburino also argued that laws related to “transferred intent” might not apply to Bakdash’s case, in part because Van Handel was not the first person hit by Bakdash’s car and because Bakdash did not intend to hit Van Handel.

On April 15, Bakdash was drinking at the Library Bar in Dinkytown when he started arguing with some other patrons, according to the charges. After he left the bar, he allegedly drove his Mitsubishi Galant into a group of pedestrians with whom he thought he had argued.

His mother, Diane Bakdash, was subsequently charged with felony accomplice and arrested for her alleged role in helping her son sell his car. But she was later cleared of all charges.

Civil case

In a separate case Monday at the Hennepin County Courthouse, a motion was heard in a civil case against Timothy and Diane Bakdash by Sarah Anne Bagley, one of the students injured in the April 15 Dinkytown incident.

Judge Philip Bush heard a protective motion to seal the deposition, and a defense attorney for Timothy Bakdash argued that the civil case should be postponed to avoid tainting the criminal case against Bakdash.