WINONA — Adam Paul Greden is "a strikingly clean kid," a forensic psychiatrist testified Wednesday. "He's like a dull farm boy" and is no risk to anyone.
Greden has been charged with three counts of criminal vehicular homicide in the deaths of Shauna Marie Ruhoff, Morgan Zeller and Katie Hornberg and criminal vehicular operation in the injury to Cydney Maker, the fourth person in a pickup that rolled after Ruhoff lost control. Greden is accused of racing Ruhoff at speeds in excess of 90 mph at the time of the crash.
The alleged race was "an impulsive, stupid thing to have done," but it was not planned, Dr. James Alsdurf said during a hearing in Winona County District Court on whether Greden should be tried as an adult. He was 17 at the time of the crash last April and is now 18.
Judge Jeffrey Thompson said he will rule on the question by the end of the week. A pre-trial hearing has been set for April 28 with a trial, likely to last a week, starting May 9.
Greden's attorney, Michael Colich, wants him put into the extended jurisdiction juvenile category, meaning that if he's convicted, he would be under juvenile court jurisdiction until age 21. If he fails what he's required to do, he could then be sentenced to prison as an adult. Terry Henderson, a county juvenile probation officer, said that could mean more than 15 years in prison. Assistant Winona County Attorney Justin Wesley said extended jurisdiction juvenile offers no program to help him.
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Alsdurf and Henderson were the only witnesses at Wednesday's hearing and recommended Greden be tried in the juvenile system. Both agreed that he is not dangerous.
The charge is extremely serious but the chance of Greden doing something like it again is remote, said Alsdurf. Greden scored only two out of 40 on the likelihood of acting recklessly again and was only 4 percent on a psychopathic test.
Greden is atypical because he doesn't have psychological issues, Alsdurf said. "Most kids (I deal with) have some kind of problems. He doesn't."
Under cross examination, Alsdurf said Greden was only impulsive when he raced Ruhoff.
Henderson said that in talking to a former middle school principal and others, she found that Greden was well liked, and a leader whom others tended to gravitate toward. He has no prior record of any delinquency, she said.
In his closing arguments, Wesley said everyone agrees Greden is not a bad kid, but "he was the one with his foot on the pedal." He could have slowed down at any time but didn't, and now three girls are dead. "It doesn't get any more serious than that."
