May 6--Prosecutor Michael Roith earned a guilty verdict in a 1981 murder trial that resulted in a 40-year state prison sentence, but still feels he let the 6-year-old victim down.

Now an Anoka County district judge, Roith was five years into his legal career when his boss told him he would be prosecuting Ming Sen Shiue, who killed Jason Wilkman after the boy witnessed Shiue's abduction of Mary Stauffer and her young daughter.

Several months before the murder trial, Shiue had been given a life sentence in federal prison for kidnapping and raping Stauffer. After the murder conviction, District Court Judge Robert Bakke ordered that the sentences be served at the same time. In essence, Roith said, Shiue didn't receive any additional time for Jason's murder and he prosecuted the case for nothing.

If the state sentence had been set to kick in after Shiue's possible parole from federal prison, Roith said, friends and relatives of the Stauffers and Wilkmans wouldn't have had to relive painful memories during Shiue's civil commitment trial last month. Anoka County officials filed a petition to have Shiue committed indefinitely to a sex offender treatment program in Moose Lake should he be paroled when he becomes eligible in July. A witness at the commitment trial testified that parole is highly unlikely at this time.

"When you sentence somebody, you are telling society what you think about their behavior," Roith said in an interview Wednesday. "I think running Shiue's sentences together didn't show any consequences for killing Jason."

Shiue, 59, has been in federal prisons for 30 years. For a federal life sentence, mandatory parole occurs after someone has served 30 years. Parole can be denied only if the offender frequently violated major prison rules or the Parole Commission in Washington, D.C., believes there is "reasonable probability" the person will re-offend if released.

Judge was 'incredulous'

After Judge Bakke handed down his sentence, he held a news conference because he was "incredulous" at Roith's public criticism of the punishment. Roith's comments, Bakke said at the time, "can only serve political purpose." The American Bar Association recommended concurrent sentencing if there were multiple sentences in one case, he said.

According to the state's sentencing guidelines, created in 1980, Shiue would have received a 12-year sentence for his second-degree murder conviction. Bakke deviated from the guideline, giving Shiue a sentence nearly four times the recommendation. If Shiue received time off for good behavior, his state sentence would have been at least 10 years shorter than the federal sentence, Roith said.

The minimum state sentence Shiue would serve if paroled from federal prison and serving consecutive sentences was 12 years, he said.

"What kind of message do you send if somebody killed five people and they received five concurrent life sentences? Does that mean the first victim was most important and the other four aren't acknowledged with a separate punishment?" he asked.

Case remembered

Roith, 64, said he still gets a weird vibe when assigned cases in Courtroom 6, where Shiue's trial was held. More than 330 people were questioned for jury duty. The defense tried to change the venue, but "you couldn't go anywhere in the state where people hadn't heard about the case," he said.

Wilkman was assumed to have been kidnapped in Arden Hills, and the Ramsey County attorney's office offered Shiue a deal of being charged with second-degree murder instead of first-degree if he helped authorities locate Wilkman's body. He agreed. The boy was buried under branches and twigs in an Anoka County park.

After beating Wilkman to death with a tire jack, Shiue kept Stauffer and her 8-year-old daughter, Beth, captive in his Roseville home for nearly two months. They escaped, vowing not to let the horrific crimes destroy their lives.

Mary Stauffer "is a fantastic person and was a wonderful witness," Roith said. "I wish I could be as strong as Mary and her daughter."

Shiue attacked Mary Stauffer with a knife while she testified during the murder trial. She needed 62 stitches to close a cut on her face and neck.

Three years after the trial, Roith was appointed to the bench by Gov. Rudy Perpich. He doesn't believe the case's notoriety played a role. He is up for re-election in November and may face his first challenger after four uncontested elections.

Bakke died in 1982.

Ron Meshbesher, who was Shiue's attorney at the murder trial, describes the case as fascinating. He was also surprised when Bakke decided Shiue's sentences should be served concurrently, he said.

"I know Roith was upset at the time, but Bakke was a very fair and good judge," Meshbesher said.

David Chanen --612-673-4465

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