Start of Trial for St. Louis Park Teen Expected to be 'Chaotic'

The start of one of two trials for the St. Louis Park teenager accused of in November is expected to be "chaotic," a local newspaper reports.

Jury selection will begin Monday in Carroll County, Iowa, in the case of Michael Richard Swanson, 18. That case was originally scheduled for Humboldt County but moved due to the publicity surrounding the case. Now, the Des Moines Register reports that an influx of 150 prospective jurors—the court room seats about 100—as well as media members will create a flurry of activity seldom seen in the small town of Carroll.

Swanson faces first-degree-murder and first-degree-robbery charges in both Humboldt County and Kossuth County. The Kossuth County case has been moved to Lyon County and is scheduled for trial later this summer.

On Nov. 15, 2010, the teenager allegedly stole his mother's vehicle in St. Louis Park, then drove to Iowa, where he shot and killed shot the two clerks—Vicky Bowman-Hall, 47, and Sheila Myers, 61—in separate robbery attempts. Police believe that both clerks complied with his demands for cash and cigarettes, but he shot them anyway to keep the clerks from calling the police.

Swanson had enrolled at St. Louis Park High School on Nov. 8,  just five days after being released from the Hennepin County Home School, a residential treatment center for adolescent offenders. He had been sentenced there in the summer for stealing a vehicle in St. Louis Park and then crashing it while drunk.

According to city records, police had visited the Swanson family home 10 times since 2005, including five times during 2010. Those calls involved reports of theft, assault, a missing person, vehicle theft, a weapons violation and shots fired.