North Dakota Man Gets 5 Years for Killing Teenager He Claimed was a ‘Republican Extremist’
The police found no evidence Cayler had connections to any extremist group or the argument between the men was politically.
Shannon Brandt, of Glenfield, ND, received five years in prison for running over and killing Cayler Ellingson, 18, last year.
Brandt pleaded guilty to manslaughter in May. He faced up to 10 years.
Brandt claimed he perceived the teenager as a “Republican extremist” who threatened him:
Brandt, 42, ran over Ellingson with his 2003 Ford Explorer on Sept. 18, 2022, in McHenry, North Dakota after an argument, prosecutors said. An arrest affidavit filed by a North Dakota State Patrol officer states that Brandt told a 911 operator that Ellingson “wouldn’t let me leave.” According to the affidavit, Brandt also told the 911 operator that Ellingson was calling other people to “get him.”
“He got on my vehicle and I couldn’t get him away from me,” Brandt said of Ellingson. “He was threatening me. He was saying something about some Republican extremist group, saying, ‘I thought he was part of us.’”
Ellingson was taken to a local hospital with severe injuries and later died. Brandt initially left the scene of the incident but returned and called 911.
However, no evidence showed connections between any extremist group and Ellingson. The police also didn’t think the “incident was politically driven.”
I always wondered if Brandt made that claim because he thought it would help him avoid a hefty prison sentence.
The judge also gave Brandt “three years’ supervised probation and a yearlong suspension of his driver’s license.” From Fox News:
Foster County Judge Bradley Cruff spent a significant amount of time during Friday’s sentencing to address Brandt’s autism diagnosis, which experts believe caused an exaggerated reaction and response in the situation with Ellingson.
“You didn’t intentionally run him over. I acknowledge that. I understand what the experts in this case are saying about how your mind work. And you didn’t intentionally kill Cayler. But he did die. And that’s a result of your alcohol consumption. You recklessly pushed Cayler to the ground with your SUV, you recklessly ran him over, and you recklessly killed him,” Cruff said.
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Comments
They can kill us with impunity.
How do you get that from this story?
5 years for murder? And Jan 6 “rioters” are getting 22 years on fake charges? It might be “legal,” but it doesn’t pass the smell test.
Expect early release and/or parole [probably unsupervised] due to the “extenuating circumstance” of stating that Ellingson was a “Republican extremist”.
Subotai Bahadur
It wasn’t murder. And there’s no indication that the victim was indeed “one of us”.
Fixed it for you!
By reading it.
How did you NOT get that from this story?
Well, the charge was reduced to manslaughter, and he got 5 years. That’s below maximum, but hardly “impunity”.
Shall we start naming people injured, attempted murder, and killed by liberals, BLM, Antifa, and whack asses like Brandt?
Of course not. It allows you to keep your holier than though attitude.
No other cases are relevant to this case. In this case there was no murder, no impunity, and no evidence that it had anything to do with politics.
Except Brandt saying that it did.
You know, Brandt, the murderer. The guy who chased down Ellingson with his car and killed him with it.
Because that’s what happened.
It’s not just from the story. Ashley Babbitt, Rebecca Boyland, and the Trump supporter in Washington were all murdered and, other than the Trump supporter who’s murderer offer himself, no justice was brought for the others and neither ever garnered msm attention. Also, let’s not forget James Hodgkinson almost assassinating Steve Scalise which no longer gets mentioned, Rand Paul being bummed rushed and nearly dying from his injuries which doesn’t get mentioned, and so many others.
Naiveté in an adult is a disgusting trait.
This story stands on its own. It is not part of a pattern. Neither the prosecutors nor the judge played any role in any other case, so what happened in other cases cannot be relevant to this one.
He used a motor vehicle.
Are you less dead if you’re killed by someone hitting you with a car?
Or, with impunity, my original point?
If I was that kids dad. I’m counting the days until that trash gets our of prison.
Had Brandt used an EV, no charges would have been filed and he could have sued Ellington’s estate for collision damage.
Actually, had it been an EV, they would have had the fast charge option…
North Dakota? This judge should be impeached and removed. I guess we need to defend ourselves from now on.
Gee, it’d be a real shame if someone were to greet this pig with a baseball bat when he leaves prison.
I mean, if we’re going to start allowing killing with slaps on the wrist, I guess it’ll be up to the citizenry to take care of problems like this without getting the police involved.
It would be a shame if someone gets a wild hair up their ass and “greets” him when he enters prison.
What a shame. 😉
Oh, he’ll likely be greeted. He’s got a “cute mouth”. Which is one reason why 5 years is a little more than a slap on the wrist. I’ve met guys who’ve just gotten out of prison after a small bit. Some of them were really fouled up in the head after all the abuse. A relative is a tour sgt in a state prison. He can tell you stories that’ll curl your hair.
First Leftists accused conservatives of saying inappropriate things and this justified verbal their abuse. Then Leftists accused conservatives of fictionalized racism and this justified their physical attacks. Then Leftists accused conservatives of criminal actions and this justified trials with phony evidence leading to extended and unjustified sentences. Now we are seeing Leftists attack and kill conservatives for various made up reasons. So where does this end and when do Leftists and the MSM stop this never ending escalation for which they are responsible?
simple,,, when we actually start fighting back and making them take responsibility for their actions.
Careful. Milhouse will have a hissy fit.
5 years,,, while J6 people are getting 20 years because a few people got scared and dirtied their diapers..
Well, on 6 January 2021 you could kill someone and suffer national media acclaim as a hero.
Only if you worked for the gummint. Don’t forget the promotion.
5 years for deliberately killing an 18 year old with a car.
That is a very light sentence.
I guess if you kill a Republican that is a lesser offense than breaking a window in the capital
Did you even bother reading the post?! He did not deliberately kill anyone, and there is no reason to believe the victim was a Republican, nor did that play any role in the verdict or sentence.
So you didn’t read what the perpetrator actually said. Of course he accused him of being an “extremist” and certainly didn’t run over him by accident.
No, you didn’t read what he said. He never said he ran him over on purpose, let alone that he intended to kill him.
On the contrary, he said that the victim threatened him and was preventing him from leaving the place — which many posters here, probably including you, say should be enough to justify running him over in order to escape. So if you want to take his statement seriously you must side with him!
However the prosecution discounted his statement and said there is no evidence that his true motive had anything to do with politics.
“On the contrary, he said that the victim threatened him and was preventing him from leaving the place — which many posters here, probably including you, say should be enough to justify running him over in order to escape”
Except none of that happened. The victim was calling his mother trying to get help as the murderer pursued him.
Why are you reflexively believing the crazed individual who killed someone because he thought they might be a republican?
I don’t know about North Dakota but in Texas if you are drunk you get vehicular homicide not manslaughter. Several places it says he was drinking. Generally if you are drinking they do not care if you intended to kill someone. You did intentionally drink and you did intentionally get behind the wheel of a car. So therefore you intentionally created a potentially deadly situation for anyone you passed by.
His defense attorney claimed he didn’t intend to kill the 18 year old, the doctors claimed he didn’t kill him intentionally (how they actually KNOW that is a mystery) and the judge bought it all. Sounds like a judge who is willingly gullible.
Ah, the murderer says ‘but I didn’t mean to kill him, I only meant to voluntarily drive into and possibly over him and fatally injure him’ and Milhouse thinks that makes everything all right.
The murderer, and his murder, should be treated like a reckless driving accident.
This is why I wrote “They can kill us with impunity.”
He pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, and was sentenced on that basis. The plea deal might not satisfy you, but it’s hardly unique in the annals of criminal justice.
Do WE get the option of a reduced charge?
700 years they want to pin of Trump — for saying the screwy election was screwy.
22 years, 18 years. 10 years FOR POSTING A MEME.
5 years for killing a Repuiblican. Killing. In cold blood. Chasing down and running over a young man.
Because he THOUGHT he might be a Republican.
Brandt needed to be bound on the floor and had a tire take a few thousand revolutions on his face– just enough that he could die in choking agony.
Instead, he’ll be out in a year or so, with time served and good behavior to do it again.
And Ellingson will still be dead.
They kill us with impunity.
And will keep doing so until we stop them.
Permanently.
“”Do WE get the option of a reduced charge?””
Probably, if you don’t PO the DA. I suppose it would depend on what you’ve done.
“”700 years they want to pin of Trump — for saying the screwy election was screwy.””
So, do you want him to cop a plea, too? It’ll knock the sentence way down. See, the difference is, this guy did the deed, and so a plea deal was in his best interest (and, in the opinion of the DA and the court, in the legal system’s best interest). A “Not guilty” plea to all charges is in Trump’s best interest, because nothing he did was apparently illegal, and you suckers are paying his legal bills, so he has nothing to lose.
“”5 years for killing a Repuiblican. Killing. In cold blood. Chasing down and running over a young man.””
The judge and DA didn’t see it that way. He pleaded to manslaughter and the court was satisfied with that. It has nothing AT ALL to do with what’s happening in other distant jurisdictions and other defendants charged with political crimes, which I have previously acknowledged appear to be bogus, your lust for bloody revenge notwithstanding.
And 5 years in prison is hardly impunity, no matter whether you accept it or not.
” See, the difference is, this guy did the deed”
And we knew he did the deed. And we had all the evidence that he did the deed as well as his confession.
So why was there a need for a ‘plea deal’? He admitted to what he’d done.
Execute him.
He killed someone because he THOUGHT that person had political beliefs he didn’t like.
Execute him.
He made up a story about Ellingson not letting him leave –while Ellingson was called his mom scared to death of the left wing maniac pursuing him in his car.
Execute him.
No. Give him 5 years. Call it an accident because he didn’t MEAN to kill the guy he pursued and deliberately ran over.
They kill us with impinity.
Maybe Millhouse is taking time out from his meds and can’t seem to grasp reality. Nothing new with him
He did deliberately kill this kid, and the kid called his mom telling her this guy wanted to hurt him.
Your naiveté and lack of curiosity is grating.
No, he did not deliberately kill him. The judge, who was in the best position to consider the evidence, said he accepted that there was no intent to kill. How the **** do you think you know better than the judge, when you did not follow the trial, did not examine any of the evidence, and know nothing at all about the case that you didn’t learn from the news industry’s reports?
That’s like saying a man who deliberately fires a gun at someone should not be accused of murder if there is no intent to kill, only disable, wound, or maim.
That’s right Millhouse, people just aren’t aware that hitting and running over people with cars can kill them.
Can you read what nonsense you’re writing?
He didn’t pull out and accidently hit the guy –he went after, hit and ran over him.
Any judge who can accept that a person slamming tons of metal deliberately into a person as ‘no intent to kill’ should be executed next to the murderer he’d just let off.
So disgusting
We have lost the Republic if you can’t give life to a gomicidal maniac in North Dakota
Not DC, not Austin, not SF
Freaking NORTH DAKOTA!!!!
I’m hoping he gets his deserved end in prison
Cause if I were the parent, he wouldn’t make it to prison
How disgusting
He received a light sentence because he is autistic. If he is that dysfunctional, why was he allowed to run around loose?
Yea, after some more reading on the case, from what I can tell, Brandt’s “Autism” diagnosis came from a Psychological Exam that occurred AFTER he had killed the kid……because of course it did. Funny how he hadn’t been diagnosed as “Autistic” in the 40 year prior to this event.
Of course thanks to the Medical Community in this day and age, every aberrant or criminal thinking error or action is now some sort of “Autism” or “Condition”.
Why is he allowed to drive?
I admit, being autistic isn’t a reason to prevent someone from driving, but this clown is clear off the chart.
TIL: You can run over and kill a pedestrian in North Dakota and only lose your driver’s license for 1-year.
Absolutely unbelievable.
I’m an avowed killer. I want to kill people.
If I run over a pussy-hat wearing transexual Obama voter, I get 25-life. If I run over a knuckle-dragging mouth-breathing MAGA voter, I get 5.
If I rent a Ryder truck and run over a bunch of Muslims, I get the needle and my name is whispered as one of the most wicked men in history, but if I run over a bunch of Christians, it’s just a one-off and nobody can impute my motives to religion.
I wish there were some rule book that would lay out these weird de-facto laws explicitly so that I might make more rational decisions on whom to kill next.
Erronius
Imagine if he ran over a black person
Say by the name of Floyd?
It’s tile White people stand up in mass and start screaming
Oh yeah, jan6
The transparent and indefensible politically-motivated leniency being handed down in these cases (I’m also thinking of that “Black Lives Matter” arsonist who killed a man in a store that he burned down) is so galling.
When the administration of justice varies depending upon the political affiliation of the assailant and victim, we have truly reached banana republic/totalitarian dystopia status.
Either Brandt was lying about everything, or this was a hate crime.
Nope. By his own statement it wasn’t a hate crime either. He said that he was just trying to get away from this crazy kid who was obstructing his escape. Not that you should believe him, but you can’t cherry-pick his statement, believing some of it but not the rest. Either it’s true or it isn’t.
It wasn’t a hate crime.
Brandt was murdering someone he THOUGHT was an ideological opponent.
He admitted this while lying about Ellingson–who he claimed was obstructing him and not letting him leave. Apparently by getting stuck in the wheels after Brandt had run him over for being a Republican.
I am surprised. Based on some of the comments here, people would believe that liberals want no harm to conservatives until the day that boxcars are opening their doors at a concentration camp.
“No need to worry folks, these were merely accidents! Women and children to the left, elderly to the right, males move forward….”
I find it offensive that the police felt the need to investigate — and release the results of that investigation — whether Cayler Ellingsen really was part of a “right-wing extremist” group.
If he was, would that have legally justified his killing?
Because that’s the message that people hear when the police say that Cayler wasn’t part of any such group, and his killer got a prison sentence.
He was brainwashed by his own side.
According to the judge Brandt deliberately (recklessly) pushed the victim to the ground with his SUV, deliberately (recklessly) ran over him, yet accidentally (recklessly) killed him.
How is this manslaughter and not murder?
Life has sure gotten cheap.
Well, once liberals get a taste of killing babies in the womb, then killing elderly and infirm adults, it isn’t long before taking any life means nothing.
If one can sell baby parts from aborted children, killing a teenage boy is not out of line.
Migraine headaches? Doctor assisted suicide
Unwanted pregnancy? A salt bath in the womb will fix that
Aunt Betsy in a coma, deny food and water until death
Grandma in a retirement home, place a COVID patient nearby.
After all, liberals are all for culling the herd.