Updated: St. Paul man found guilty of attempted murder, assault for Credit River hit-and-run

Prior Lake American

After a short deliberation Friday, a jury found a St. Paul man guilty of first-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault in connection with an April hit-and-run in Credit River Township.

Timothy Lee Biby, 46, was arrested in May and charged in connection with the incident which left Prior Lake resident Grant Skluzacek, 19, with a fractured wrist, large gouges on his arms and road rash on his torso, calves, shoulder and kneecaps.

He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the attempted murder charge and 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine for the second-degree assault charge. Biby rejected a plea deal in Scott County District Court for 162 months in prison, or more than 13 years.

Biby is set to be sentenced on April 5.

During opening arguments of the trial, Assistant County Attorney Nelson Rhodus said Biby had confessed to the attempted murder in a letter to his ex-wife. Public defender Alex McDonald said the state is unable to prove Biby intended to kill the person on the motorcycle.

“Intent — that’s what this case is about,” McDonald said.

On April 29, Skluzacek visited a friend who lived in Lakeville. He left around 11 p.m. and texted his mother he was headed home to Prior Lake, a less than 10-minute drive.

Skluzacek testified on Wednesday he was driving toward Prior Lake on his motorcycle when he noticed a car driving behind him.

“But I didn’t think anything of it,” Skluzacek said.

Skluzacek said at one point he no longer saw the headlights and assumed the car had turned onto a different road. He then heard an engine revving and was struck from behind.

He said he called his mother to let her know where he was, then called 911. The audio of the 911 call was played in court on Wednesday. Skluzacek told the dispatcher he was hit by a car that drove off.

“I was hit by a f---- — car,” Skluzacek said in the call. “Oh, my God.”

Skluzacek was wearing a leather jacket and helmet at the time of the incident. The leather jacket, which belonged to his great-grandfather and had been given to him after his great-grandfather died, was torn in the hit-and-run.

Since the accident, Skluzacek said he has been unable to return to his previous construction job due to back pains and muscle spasms and that he is no longer able to afford physical therapy.

The Scott County Sheriff’s Office responded to the crash. Patrol Deputy Maxwell Kes testified on Wednesday he was surprised to see Skluzacek up and walking after the hit-and-run, as motorcycle versus car crashes usually have more severe consequences for the motorcycle rider.

Kes also said he did not see skid marks on the road, suggesting the driver didn’t attempt to stop or swerve to avoid the crash. At the scene, deputies recovered a large chunk of a blue car bumper with a partial Honda logo on it.

A portion of a vehicle identification number found on the bumper piece was then traced to a 1999 Honda Accord, which the owner said had been sold to Biby a few days prior to the incident.

During a pre-trial hearing in October, Scott County Sheriff’s Office investigator Michael Schultz testified he questioned Biby at his apartment in St. Paul about the hit-and-run. Schultz said Biby told him he was not involved in the incident. When he was asked about how a piece of the Accord could end up in a hit-and-run in Scott County if Biby were in St. Paul, Schultz said Biby asked to end the conversation.

Later, detectives received a call from Biby’s ex-wife, Amber Bigelow, who said she had received a letter from Biby indicating his involvement in the hit-and-run. Bigelow testified on Wednesday she received a voicemail and package from Biby in May.

In the voicemail, which was played in court Wednesday, Biby allegedly said he was leaving town and he wouldn’t hear from or see Bigelow again. The package sent to Bigelow contained the letter as well as a necklace, lottery tickets and a debit card belonging to Biby.

In the letter, Biby allegedly wrote he drove past her home on April 29 hoping to see Bigelow and her dog outside when he saw a motorcycle leave and assumed it was her boyfriend.

“I tried to kill your boyfriend,” Biby wrote in the letter, Bigelow said. “I saw a guy leave on a bike and I lost it. ... Anyway, I hit him with my car. Turns out he was a high school kid. I hurt an innocent kid. I can’t live like this.”

The defense said Biby wrote the letter in a suicidal state while under the influence of medication intended to end his life.

Biby is under a restraining order to prohibit him from contacting Bigelow. Bigelow said once she received the letter, she contacted police because he indicated he tried to kill someone and seemed to be saying he was going to run.

Biby was arrested May 10 and admitted to investigators that he wrote the letter, according to court documents.