DAKOTA CITY, Iowa (AP) - A judge has closed a hearing to
determine if a Minnesota teenager charged in the slayings of two
Iowa convenience store clerks should be tried as a juvenile.
Michael Swanson, of St. Louis Park, Minn., is charged with two
counts of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree
robbery for the Nov. 15 shooting deaths of 47-year-old Vicky
Bowman-Hall and 61-year-old Sheila Myers.
The Fort Dodge Messenger says District Court Judge Thomas Bice
ruled Wednesday to close the Feb. 1 hearing in Humbodlt County,
where the 17-year-old Swanson is accused of shooting Myers during a
robbery at a store in Humboldt.
A hearing has not been scheduled in Kossuth County, where
Swanson is charged in the death of Bowmall-Hall, who was shot
during a robbery at a store in Algona.
