MINNEAPOLIS – Celebrity chef Justin Sutherland has been sentenced to two years of probation for a charge arising from a fight with his girlfriend this summer and violating domestic violence contactless ordering.
Ramsey County Judge Andrew Gordon sentenced Sutherland on Friday to two years of probation, 60 days of home detention, domestic violence counseling, anger management and more than $2,000 in fines, court records show. As part of the sentence, Sutherland must also abstain from alcohol and drugs.
Gordon stayed out of a 300-day jail sentence in favor of probation and home confinement.
Sutherland was originally charged with and found guilty of: one misdemeanor count of threats of violence of the June 28 incident, but court records classify the charge as a gross misdemeanor because the sentence imposed is consistent with the limits for gross misdemeanors.
In October, two days after he pleaded guilty to the assault charge, Sutherland was arrested at a St. Paul Spirit Halloween store and charged with violating a no-contact order. He pleaded guilty to the charge in October, and the conviction was included in Friday’s sentencing.
According to the criminal complaint about the June incident, St. Paul police officers were called to the 800 block of Front Avenue on a report of a person with a gun outside a building. The caller said the man had the gun in his hand and that a female subject “appeared to be in distress.” A second caller said she was on a video call with her sister, who said her boyfriend was trying to kill her, and that he took the phone away and threw it on the floor.
Responding officers found Sutherland leaving the rear of the home. An officer instructed him to put his hands on his head, at which point Sutherland reportedly said, “I called 911 and you’re trying to arrest me?” He continued to scream as he was taken into custody.
Someone claiming to be an old friend of Sutherland’s told police that Sutherland and his girlfriend were “having problems while fighting,” according to the complaint. He said he went to the address because they were fighting and had to “physically get between them and push them apart.” He denied seeing Sutherland with a gun.
Sutherland’s girlfriend allegedly told officers the argument started when he told her they were no longer going to a music festival. According to the complaint, she added that he was also angry because the neighbors were “being racist towards him” and she believed he was taking his anger out on her.
She had called her sister to explain the situation when she said Sutherland choked her for several seconds before slamming her phone on the counter several times, the complaint said. She said Sutherland later grabbed a gun, pointed it at her, threatened to shoot her and hit her in the chest with the gun.
While executing a search warrant, police found a plastic gun case on top of the bed containing two handguns. Police also found eight additional firearms, ammunition and the woman’s broken phone. According to the complaint, one of the weapons had a blood-like substance on it.
Police had been called to the same address earlier that evening after a woman reported that her boyfriend had choked her and was trying to kick her out of the apartment.
She said she was fine and didn’t need police help. Sutherland told authorities they had a verbal disagreement and did not need the officers.
Sutherland entered a 30-day treatment program shortly after the incident.
For anonymous, confidential help, people can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or 1-800-787-3224.
