Barnabas Y’Shua, a St. Paul mayoral candidate, was once sentenced to 30 days in jail after his second arrest in as many years for driving under the influence of alcohol.

Fellow mayoral candidate Tim Holden was once forced to shutter an adult novelties store on Maryland Avenue after losing a court battle with the city.

Meanwhile, the Scott County attorney’s office on Tuesday announced that it would not pursue charges against St. Paul mayoral candidate Dai Thao investigation into extortion allegations against him. In June, the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension sent the findings of its investigation into the allegations to the Scott County attorney’s office for review.

A criminal history, passing brushes with the law or active legal challenges certainly don’t keep candidates from running for office.

Nevertheless, the 10 mayoral candidates who will appear on St. Paul’s Nov. 7 ballot are no strangers to the courtroom. Some have spent time in jail or faced convictions for possession of marijuana and crack cocaine. Another received an apology from Minneapolis Parks police after his rough arrest near Lake Calhoun.

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Trump pledges woman for court, pushes Senate to move on pick Still another candidate has spent time in court-ordered psychiatric facilities. And another lost his home to foreclosure, while several have gone to court to evict tenants from their rental properties.

Some voters will dismiss the civil and criminal histories of St. Paul’s mayoral candidates as unnecessary information, while others say those courtroom appearances provide important glimpses into the candidates’ formative experiences as working professionals.

The following round-up of legal incidents for candidates running for St. Paul mayor is not intended to be exhaustive.

BARNABAS Y’SHUA

Back in 2008, Y’Shua was arrested in Wright County on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol. Court records show he pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor — refusing to submit to a chemical test — and was placed on probation.

Two years later, he was arrested again in Wright County on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, and ultimately sentenced to 30 days in jail after being convicted of operating a motor vehicle within two hours of having a blood-alcohol level of 0.08, a gross misdemeanor.

Court documents show he was allowed to complete his jail time on a sentence-to-serve work crew, provided he enroll in chemical-dependency treatment. He was discharged from probation in November 2014.

Y’Shua, a former pizza store manager who lives at the Union Gospel Mission’s men’s shelter, said he suffered a heart attack several years ago that left him with a traumatic brain injury, which he said has complicated his personal and professional life. He could not be reached for additional comment.

TRAHERN CREWS

Mayoral candidate Trahern Crews has been cited for traffic-related offenses such as driving with a suspended license and driving without proof of insurance more than 20 times in Minnesota.

In 1996, Hennepin County prosecutors charged Crews — who is also known in court documents as Trahern Perry — with second-degree possession of crack cocaine, but his sentence was stayed. The case was later reduced to a misdemeanor, and he was given credit for four days served in jail.

Since that time, Crews said he has dedicated his life to civic involvement. He produced his own public television show — “The Maximus Report” — focused around urban issues, became a radio announcer, launched an independent record label and managed two political campaigns.

Crews ran for the Ward 1 city council seat under the Green Party banner in 2015, garnering 14 percent of the vote against the incumbent, Thao, who won 84 percent.

PAT HARRIS

In mid-September 2012, Woodbury Villa assisted living sued Pat Harris, a former St. Paul council member and vice president of BMO Harris Bank, and his mother, Ardemis Harris, in conciliation court over a debt that the owners claimed had gone unpaid.

The legal claim states: “the plaintiff did not pay the room and board charges in full during … stay at Woodbury Villa.”

The case was settled at the end of October of that year.

According to the Harris campaign, the candidate was included in the suit because he had power of attorney over his mother’s affairs. Payments were being handled through Washington County, which quickly brought the account current once the claim was filed.

TIM HOLDEN

Commercial Realtor Tim Holden has picked up the phone to call the police any number of times when there’s been suspicious activity outside one of his properties, and he’s been the subject of some police calls, as well.

During his 2013 mayoral campaign, the St. Paul Police Department received numerous complaints that “Holden for Mayor” signs were posted illegally on public property near major intersections and highway exits. Police confiscated enough bright yellow campaign signs to fill a Dumpster, inspiring vocal criticism from Holden.

“I didn’t get any tickets or anything,” Holden said. “There was nothing I was charged with. We tried to follow the rules, but some of the guys I had working on the campaign, they were a little overly aggressive in sign placement.”

On more than a dozen occasions, the candidate and his company Added Value Exteriors have filed suit against tenants or business partners or been the subject of such suits.

In 2008, Natus Corp. — otherwise known as Hamernick Decorating Center — sued Holden in Ramsey County conciliation court, earning a judgment of $660. In March 2007, Holden sued the owners of the adult novelty store the Love Doctor — one of his most visible and longstanding tenants — in a lease dispute that was settled out of court a short time later.

In June 2006, at the urging of the city of St. Paul, a Ramsey County district judge ordered Holden to shutter Risky Business, an adult-themed lingerie and novelty shop at 700 E. Maryland Ave. that he opened across the street from a playground. Holden maintained at the time that he had received outdated documentation from a city employee indicating the location was zoned for retail. In her decision, the judge said he should have known to ask for written certification of the site’s zoning status, which was for “business office.”

Holden survived two serious car crashes in 1990 and 2013 and went to court to seek compensation from the drivers’ insurance companies. He was successful both times.

MELVIN CARTER III

On two occasions during or shortly before his divorce proceedings in 2011-12, police were called to the Charles Avenue home of Melvin Carter III for civil matters, though they recorded no evidence of criminal activity.

On March 27, 2011, St. Paul police responded to a phone call from Alecia Carter’s mother, who lives out of state. The mother indicated that her daughter had contacted her, upset and “screaming over the phone about her husband, Melvin, pulling the 2-3 year old,” according to a police incident report. The report goes on to say that the responding officers found no evidence of assault or wrongdoing, though Alecia Carter “wanted legal advice on a potential separation.”

In a recent interview, Melvin Carter said an argument had begun on a Sunday morning as he was trying to get his two young girls out the door to go to church. Alecia, his wife at the time, called her mother, who called police.

In the second incident, dated Dec. 7, 2011, St. Paul police “squads were sent to (the house) on an apparent civil issue,” states the description in a police incident report. Alecia Carter is listed as the complainant and Melvin Carter III is listed as “other.”

The report indicates Alecia Carter had previously informed her husband he couldn’t be at the house and he had to call before he came over, but she said he stopped by unannounced, let himself in without knocking, picked up some things and then left before police arrived. An officer wrote in the report: “This is a civil issue, no crime was committed.”

The couple, who married in 2003, initiated divorce proceedings in July 2011. Dissolution was granted in Hennepin County District Court in August 2012. A reporter’s attempts to reach Alecia for comment were unsuccessful. The incidents are not referenced in divorce filings.

Melvin Carter said despite the difficult separation, he and his ex-wife continue to share custody of their two daughters.

“We co-parent. We live six blocks away from each other,” said Carter, who recently remarried. “Obviously, the divorce wasn’t the easiest for either of us to go through.”

ELIZABETH DICKINSON

Elizabeth Dickinson, an author and motivational speaker who is running for mayor under the Green Party banner, is a longtime residential landlord. She rents out a single-family home, a duplex and a triplex, all of them in St. Paul. Dickinson went to Ramsey County conciliation court in 2016 to seek back rent from a tenant who had moved out on her own accord.

“She was my tenant in one of my properties, and basically stopped paying rent for five months,” Dickinson said. “She had stopped paying and stopped communicating with me. So I took her to court. She apologized to me and said, ‘You’ve been nothing but patient.'”

DAI THAO

Thao, a St. Paul council member who grew up in public housing, often reminds audiences he is no stranger to tough times. In September 2010, he was evicted from his Fridley home for failing to make mortgage payments. At the time, he said, he had run into financial difficulties transitioning from his job as an information technology specialist with nonprofits to a new role as a community organizer.

Also in 2010, a Ramsey County judge ordered him to pay the City County Federal Credit Union, a banking and loan agency, $24,000. The judgment was satisfied by August 2014. Thao said he had used the loan to fix siding on his property and paid it all off. He was elected to the St. Paul City Council during a special election in 2013 and re-elected in 2015.

On Tuesday the Scott County Attorney’s Office announced it would not file criminal charges against Thao, who was under investigation following an alleged failed bribery request or extortion scheme.

In late April, a news report on KMSP-TV indicated that Thao pressured a lobbyist for Dart Container Corp. for campaign “resources” while discussing an issue likely to come before the city council this year — banning non-recyclable food take-out containers from restaurants. His campaign manager later texted the lobbyist to say a campaign donation might get him to “rethink this issue.”

The container company did not make a donation to the Thao campaign. Thao fired his campaign manager after being questioned about the text messages by reporters.

“We have cooperated with the investigation, and we will be exonerated,” Thao said prior to the announcement from Scott County authorities. “The investigation will be helpful to prove our innocence. They understand that this is politically motivated — this is a political hack job by a paid lobbyist. I think everybody knows that.”

CHRIS HOLBROOK

In 2014, Minneapolis Parks police roughly arrested then-gubernatorial candidate Chris Holbrook for gathering signatures in a public park near Lake Calhoun and filming his encounter with them. The police soon released him and issued him a public apology, noting signature-gathering in a park is not the same as soliciting and is not against the law.

Court documents show that Holbrook, a sales manager for a building products distributor and chair of the state Libertarian Party, has taken at least six tenants to Ramsey County housing conciliation court.

“Those are tenants over the years that had to be evicted for failure to pay rent,” he said. “My wife and I own three duplexes.”

TOM GOLDSTEIN

In 1993, Tom Goldstein and his baseball card and sports memorabilia shop, TG Sports Enterprises, took Ken Killebrew — son of baseball legend Harmon Killebrew — to small claims court over a delayed product shipment.

When Killebrew failed to appear in Dakota County District Court, Goldstein won a $520 monetary award. Goldstein, who once served a term on the St. Paul School Board, ran for city council in 2015, garnering 38 percent of the vote.

SHARON ANDERSON

Sharon Anderson — also known as Sharon Scarrella Anderson, or the Right Rev. Sharon Lea Peterson Hurska Chergosky Scarrella Anderson — is a frequent presence in the court system, mostly of her own choosing. Representing herself, she frequently sues elected officials, prosecutors, judges and banks in state and federal court.

In fact, she has filed suit against the city of St. Paul so many times that a state judge once barred her from ever suing the city again. Anderson called the decision politically motivated because she had once run against the judge for office. Related Articles As memories of George Floyd fade, activists make sure his legacy does not

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Anderson claims to have run for public office every year since 1970. She once declared her Summit Avenue home to be a tax-exempt religious institution — the Church of Justice Reform — but the courts decided otherwise and had her and her husband evicted in 1988. She still uses the Summit Avenue address in her campaign filings, including her contest against St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman in 2013, where she earned 3 percent of the vote.

Anderson was arrested numerous times in the 1970s and 1980s on charges ranging from assaulting her husband and punching a police officer to contempt of court. In 1996, she said, she spent 94 days at state security hospitals in St. Peter and Brainerd.

Mara H. Gottfried and Sarah Horner contributed to this report. Frederick Melo can be reached at 651-228-2172. Follow him at twitter.com/FrederickMelo.