Defense attorney Brian Karalus joined Liz Collin on her podcast. He spoke about the tragic case of his friend, who was brutally stabbed and slashed in the face and neck—and scarred for life.
But Karalus also spoke about how Hennepin County prosecutors only charged the suspect, Camron Wayne Draper, with second-degree assault and let him out on bail.
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Karalus, who typically is a defense attorney, was representing his friend in this case and was shocked by the low-level charge. Karalus successfully pushed for having the charge amended to first-degree assault.
But the case put Karalus in a strange situation, with a defense attorney having to demand the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office take a tougher stance on crime.
As a longtime resident of Minneapolis with a law office downtown, Karalus spoke about how prosecutors have become soft on crime.
A tragic knife attack
Earlier this year, Karalus’s client, Tony Dehn, was out in the North Loop of Minneapolis in the warehouse district, leaving a bar with his friend.
“I’ve known this guy for 30 years. This is a friend of mine. There was some type of altercation at the bar. It carried outside of the bar and my friend, Mr. Dehn, was trying to help somebody else out. This was a dispute between other people. He wasn’t actually involved and one of the people that was involved in it took a knife and literally tried to slit his throat … there’s a slit like all the way down. I want to say it’s probably about eight inches … literally tried to rip his head off with a knife,” Karalus explained.
Dehn himself told Alpha News about how he was in the back of the ambulance and lost so much blood that he was calling his friends and family to say his last goodbyes. Amazingly, Dehn survived.
A ‘soft on second-degree murder’ prosecution?
The suspect, Camron Wayne Draper, was not arrested that night. Instead, months would pass. Eventually, and despite the horrific injuries that Dehn suffered, Draper was charged with second-degree assault and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Dehn was concerned and reached out to Karalus for help in trying to make sense of the criminal justice system.
Karalus explained that Dehn called him “because I’m a criminal defense lawyer, he had questions. Should I go to court? Can I get restitution?”
“What shocked me was when I actually looked up the case and pulled the complaint and saw the charges. When I saw that he was only being charged with a second-degree assault, I, as a criminal defense lawyer of 25 years, I was flabbergasted. I could not believe they charged him with second-degree assault. This looked to me like an attempted murder, like unquestionably an attempted murder. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it,” Karalus said.
Karalus also spoke about the other side in this case. If Draper, the suspect, was his client and only charged with a second-degree assault, Karalus said, “I would have pled him guilty so fast his head would have spun.”
As Karalus explained, that’s because with “an attempted murder we’re talking about possibly 20-plus years in prison” and the suspect was “charged with a second-degree assault where someone could get out in eight months.”
“I never imagined we’d have to talk about being soft on attempted murder,” he said.
Karalus also spoke about how this case is apparently part of a much bigger problem with crime in the Twin Cities.
“I’ve lived in South Minneapolis now for 13 years, I’ve lived in Minneapolis for over 20 years. I think this is a big part of the problem is they’re letting people out on bail, low bails,” Karalus said.
Draper’s bail was set at $50,000 and he was out on bail soon after his arrest.
Online records show that Draper was just arrested again on Monday. It appears that along with this case, Draper is also facing charges in a DWI and another firearms-related case.
“So I don’t know if they need to be tougher on all crimes. But when you start seeing again as a resident of Minneapolis for 20 some years, I mean, this is out of hand. It’s out of control,” he said.
Alpha News reached out the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for comment on the case involving Draper and why more serious charges were not leveled from the beginning. We did not receive a response.
Meanwhile, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced another soft-on-crime policy move to limit prosecutions stemming from traffic violations.
JUST IN: Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announces she will abandon traffic stop prosecutions.
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA) responds: pic.twitter.com/C9THQcx0SV
— Liz Collin (@lizcollin) September 17, 2025
Liz Collin
Liz Collin is a multi-Emmy-Award-winning investigative reporter, news anchor, and producer who cares about Minnesota. She is the producer of The Fall of Minneapolis and Minnesota v We the People documentary films, and author of the Amazon best-selling book, They’re Lying: The Media, the Left, and The Death of George Floyd. Her work has prompted important state laws. Yet perhaps most of all, Liz has been giving a voice to the truth—and helping others tell their stories—for more than 20 years.
Dr. JC Chaix
Dr. JC Chaix is an editor, educator, and an expert in media studies. He wrote and directed the Alpha News documentary "The Fall of Minneapolis" and "Minnesota v We the People."
