Probation For Downtown Rochester Beating and Robbery

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Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - A Rochester man has been sentenced to 2 years on probation for his involvement in a fight outside a downtown Rochester bar that left a man unconscious and missing his wallet.

21-year-old Kenneth Herrera was charged last August with third-degree assault and first-degree aggravated robbery. Today, he entered into a plea agreement and admitted to the gross misdemeanor assault charge in exchange for the dismissal of the felony robbery count.

According to the criminal complaint, Herrera and a Missouri man were seen beating another man unconscious on the night of August 23 in the area of South Broadway and Third Street Southwest. Police reports stated that the responding officers found the victim lying in the middle of the street and bleeding from his mouth. A bartender at a nearby bar told Rochester police he broke up an argument earlier that night between the victim and the two men, and other witnesses told the officers that Herrera and the other man had left in a vehicle.

The court document indicates the officers found Herrera and the other man sitting in a vehicle parked nearby. They admitted to fighting the victim but argued that the victim had started the fight by slapping one of the men in the face. While talking with Herrera and his passenger, an officer spotted the victim's wallet on the driver's side of the vehicle. Herrera later admitted to taking the wallet from the unconscious man's pocket.

The other man involved in the fight, 37-year-old Willie Friston, earlier admitted to a misdemeanor assault charge in the case and was sentenced to one year of probation.