UPDATED: Opening Statements Expected Monday in Case of Roseville Man Timothy Bakdash

Opening statements will likely be presented Monday morning in the trial of Roseville man Timothy Bakdash, who is facing murder charges for allegedly driving his car into and killing an University of Minnesota student last April in Dinkytown, Hennepin County attorney's office spokesman Chuck Laszewski said.

Jury selection, which began Tuesday will probably go through Friday morning in Hennepin County District Court. 

Last week Roseville Patch reported that defense attorneys for Bakdash will argue that he was “voluntarily intoxicated” . 

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 last week 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.