A Rosemount 18-year-old has pleaded guilty in juvenile court to first-degree manslaughter for punching a Vietnam veteran in the face at St. Paul’s Harriet Island Regional Park, an assault that led to the man’s death nearly a month later.
Wyatt Daniel Doerfler admitted at a Ramsey County District Court hearing on Wednesday that he punched Thomas Dunne after confronting the 76-year-old in a parking lot on Jan. 28. Dunne had several fractures to both his eye socket and nose. He died Feb. 23 while hospitalized.
Thomas Dunne, 76, of St. Paul, died Feb. 23, 2024, at Regions Hospital. (Courtesy of Helen Broderick)
An adult certification for Doerfler, who turned 18 two months after the attack, was supposed to happen on Wednesday. However, the defense and prosecution agreed beforehand to have the case designated as extended juvenile jurisdiction in exchange for pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter while committing fifth-degree assault.
Also part of the plea, Doerfler was given a stayed adult sentence of eight years in prison, which means he could serve that time in an adult prison if he violates the terms of his probation. Extended juvenile jurisdiction offenders are under the juvenile court’s supervision until they are 21.
The case will now move to Dakota County, where Doerfler lives. A judge will hear arguments before pronouncing specific terms of a sentence, which could include time in custody, at a disposition hearing to be held within the next two weeks.
“This case is so sad,” Ramsey County District Judge Jacob Kraus said at Wednesday’s hearing. “I am mostly sad because a person died, a person who was a husband, a loved family member and a veteran. And although a lot of what we’re going to say today is about Wyatt, because this case is in your name, I want the family of the victim to hear those words first.”
Doerfler was originally charged with first-degree assault causing great bodily harm. Charges were upgraded to manslaughter on April 24 after a final autopsy report found Dunne, of St. Paul, died of “probable complications of assault,” according to the amended juvenile petition.
Dunne fought two tours in Vietnam as a Marine and went on to serve in the Minnesota National Guard and the Wisconsin Army Reserves. He was a hero, his wife, Helen Broderick, told the Pioneer Press four days after his death.
She said they had just finished a walk at the riverfront park.
“For a hero like him to come home to his local park after being at risk in foreign wars,” she said, “and to be assaulted like that …”
‘Yeah, that was me’
Officers were called to the 100 block of Water Street after Broderick reported her husband was punched in the face. Officers found Dunne standing next to his car with blood streaming from his right eye socket. St. Paul fire medics were called to the scene.
Dunne told officers that after he saw a male urinating and took out his phone to take a picture, two other males got out of a blue Ford Fusion. They approached him and tried to take his phone. One of them punched him in the face.
A witness told police she saw a male urinating in a pond. She said three males then confronted Dunne and one of them slapped the phone out of his hand and punched him in the face. She said she yelled at them before they walked away, headed east.
Officers saw three males walking east along the river and asked if they were involved in a fight. Doerfler spoke up and said, “Yeah, that was me,” the petition says. He declined to give a formal statement.
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One teen told police they confronted Dunne because they believed he was recording them and that he should have “minded his business.”
The third teen said he couldn’t find a public bathroom and began urinating in a pond. Doerfler and the other teen walked over and Doerfler “indicated that (Dunne) was recording or taking a picture of him,” the petition says. “Doerfler then approached (Dunne) and said, ‘Let’s get to it,’ before punching (him).”
Hospital staff told the police investigator that Dunne’s eye injury was “very severe” and that he “may permanently lose most of his vision in that eye, and it would be months before they could tell if there was any improvement.”
Dunne was discharged from Regions on Jan. 29 with instructions to receive follow-up care. Five days later, he was readmitted to Regions due to complications stemming from the injuries, the petition says.
Medical records indicate that Dunne had contracted an infection that continued to progress and ultimately led to him being placed on a ventilator on Feb.13.
‘Mind-boggling’
Dunne’s family objected to extended juvenile jurisdiction, with niece Heather Turnbull noting Wednesday at the hearing how violent the offense was and how close Doerfler was to turning 18 years of age.
“(Dunne) had his phone in his hand and essentially got sucker punched so violently and so hard that it led to his death,” Turnbull said. “And so we really want to have meaningful consequences.”
Judge Kraus noted that every document filed by a professional recommended extended juvenile jurisdiction for Doerfler, not adult court. “Although that doesn’t matter for the court’s feeling about it because ultimately the parties have to decide what to do with their case today, and they’ve done that,” he said.
Kraus asked Doerfler if he wanted to say anything to Dunne’s family and friends.
“I just want to say that I am so dearly sorry, and if I could go back and change it, I would in a heartbeat,” he said. “I think about it all day, every day and it haunts me. And I am so sorry for your loss.”
Kraus called the incident “mind-boggling” that Doerfler made a decision to “hit an old man.”
“We talk in this courthouse all the time … of once a kid pulls a trigger or throws a punch, he loses all control over what happens next,” he said. “And this is one of the saddest versions of that.”
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