Jonathan Rubio-Segura on trial for murder, faces possible deportation

Hennepin County

Jonathan Rubio-Segura killed Anthony Gale in March 2010.

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The 27-year old is on trial this week for second-degree murder after he drunkenly punched Anthony Gale in the face outside a downtown strip club in March 2010.

Rubio-Segura's sucker punch attack on Anthony Gale, a stranger, left Gale unconscious in downtown Minneapolis. Gale later died in a hospital, and Rubio-Segura woke up in jail claiming not to remember what had happened. Soon, he could be waking up very far away. 

Rubio-Segura could be deported even if he's found not guilty of murder.

Gale, an Edina businessman, was staying at a downtown hotel when he went for a 3 a.m. walk, according to the complaint from the Hennepin County Attorney's office. He walked by Rubio-Segura near Hennepin Avenue and N. 5th Street. The two men talked, hugged, and shook hands farewell -- then Rubio-Segura knocked Gale out with a punch, according to the criminal complaint.

The entire confrontation was recorded by a surveillance camera for Augie's Bourbon Street Cabaret.

Rubio-Segura then leaned over and punched Gale again as Gale lay in a pool of his own blood. As City Pages reported in our cover story on one-punch homicides last week, it's usually the impact of head on concrete that causes death in drunken fights.

Rubio-Segura's defense attorney is arguing that he was too drunk to remember his actions that night. Prosecutors contend that Rubio-Segura, who had no prior criminal record, made a calculated decision to punch Gale and should be held responsible for murder, according to the Star Tribune

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have filed an immigration hold on Rubio-Segura with Hennepin County. That means ICE wants to take him into custody after the state of Minnesota is done with him and determine whether or not he can be removed from the country.

A message left with Rubio-Segura's attorney, Robert Kolstad,  was not returned. 

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