The legal weight bearing down on Danny Heinrich has increased again, with the filing of a civil lawsuit last week by Jared Scheierl.
Heinrich, whom authorities have named a person of interest in the 1989 abduction of Jacob Wetterling, has remained jailed in Sherburne County since he was arrested last November at his Annandale home. After his arrest, charges against Heinrich were increased to 25 counts of child pornography.
Last week, Scheierl, 40, filed a suit against Heinrich accusing him of sexual battery and false imprisonment during an abduction and assault in Cold Spring that occurred shortly before Wetterling’s disappearance.
Scheierl was 12 years old at the time of the incident in January of 1989.
That abduction occurred shortly after a string of other assaults in Paynesville, and authorities have long believed might be linked to Wetterling’s disappearance later that year in October.
When investigators conducted a search warrant at Heinrich’s Annandale home last year they obtained a DNA sample, which matched DNA found on the sweatshirt Scheierl was wearing at the time of the assault. Despite that evidence, Heinrich could not be charged in the incident because the statute of limitations has expired.
Scheierl’s civil suit says that he has continued to suffer pain, emotional distress, loss of self-esteem and psychological injury since the incident, when Heinrich forced him into a car, drove to a remote area and assaulted him before releasing him.
Scheierl told the St. Cloud Times that the suit is worthwhile even though there is little chance he will be compensated monetarily. The suit seeks more than $50,000 in damages.
"Justice doesn’t have to necessarily come in a monetary form," he told the Times. "I think answers are a form of prosecution."
He told the Star Tribune that the suit "will give me an opportunity to sit across the table from (Heinrich) to ask him the questions that I’ve always wanted to know."
The suit takes advantage of a three-year window opened by the 2013 Minnesota Child Victims Act, which expires on Wednesday, May 25. The act temporarily lifted the statute of limitations for civil child abuse cases, according to the Star Tribune.
Heinrich is awaiting trial in July on the federal charges. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges, and has claimed that he is innocent in the Wetterling case.
In April, Heinrich’s lawyers requested that his trial be moved to a new location and that evidence gathered during the search of Heinrich’s home be suppressed, along with anything he told investigators last year.
They argued that the search warrant that led to the discovery of the child pornography in Heinrich’s home was not valid because it was based in part on allegations that Heinrich was involved in the abduction and sexual assault of Scheierl.
Heinrich’s lawyers can argue that seeking evidence in a case that cannot be prosecuted invalidates the search warrant and make evidence inadmissible, according to the Times.
U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Leo Brisbois is considering the motions from Heinrich’s lawyers and will make a ruling at a later date.
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