Authorities often publicize arrests and convictions, but a Cokato lawyer said they rarely publicize acquittals.

Attorney Brian Olson believes Meeker County authorities used several local newspapers to drag the name of his former client, Devin Delbert Donald Blom of Cosmos, through the mud following his 2006 burglary charges.

Olson succeeded in defending Blom when a district court judge acquitted Blom on March 7 of burglary, theft and criminal damage to property charges. The charges stemmed from an incident last August in which authorities claimed Blom burglarized a rural Litchfield home.

Judge Kathryn N. Smith ruled the evidence presented did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Blom committed the crime.

“It was very poor police work,” Olson said. “My heart went out to the victims … I’m just kind of sad that the cops assumed it was this kid. Now the real burglar will probably never be caught.”

Blom is currently appealing a second burglary conviction stemming from an incident in November 2005, in which two children allegedly reported Blom had broken into their family’s Litchfield home.

Olson questions the strength of the evidence in that case as well, although Blom was found guilty in a subsequent jury trial. Blom is working with appellate lawyers from the Minnesota Board of Public Defense in an effort to overturn that verdict.

Olson said Blom is currently in prison. “He was legitimately convicted of an offense in Kandiyohi County,” he said. However, Blom would likely not be in prison today were it not for the recent, and allegedly erroneous, prior burglary conviction, Olson said.

“He hasn’t been a choir boy,” he added. “It’s not that this kid hasn’t been in trouble. But they made some assumptions without doing the proper police work.”

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)