Nicholas Kraus Receives 20-Year Prison Sentence for 2021 Crash Killing Protester

Written by SJ - 11.26.2022

Nicholas Kraus, the 36-year-old St. Paul man who plowed into a Minneapolis protest in 2021, killing Deona Marie Knajdek, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

On June 13, 2021, Knajdek, a 31-year-old mother-of-two, was attending a protest at Girard Avenue and Lake Street in Minneapolis over the police murder of Winston Smith, Jr., when Kraus drove into the crowd. His car collided with other vehicles that were set up as barricades. The impact shoved the barricade vehicles into protesters, killing Knajdek and injuring two others.

Kraus, who was driving under the influence, later told police he saw the barricade and accelerated, believing he needed to “get over it.” At the time, he was driving without a license due to a previous DWI conviction.

In October of 2021, Kraus pled not guilty to several charges, but last month he changed his plea to guilty of unintentional murder. Last week, Kraus was sentenced to 240 months for the second-degree murder of Knajdek and an additional 45 months for second-degree assault. The sentences will be served concurrently.

In a statement, Knajdek’s mother, Deb Kenney, insisted, “We wanted it to be at least murder.” She continued, “We didn’t want to go any lower, whether that was intentional or unintentional. The biggest part is that we get to move forward without her.”