At first, Kristi McNeilly was the defense attorney, and Trinis Derrelle Edwards her client in a domestic assault case involving Edwards' wife, Lori Edwards.
Now, five months later, attorney and client are lovers, according to court documents, and McNeilly faces charges of tampering with witnesses in the assault case and of paying Lori Edwards to either not testify against her husband or to lie on the stand.
And the witnesses whom the attorney either allegedly threatened or assaulted? Her brother, Judah McNeilly, and her father, Stephen McNeilly.
That's according to a criminal complaint filed this week against Kristi McNeilly in Ramsey County District Court.
McNeilly, 34, of Woodbury, is charged with aggravated first-degree witness tampering, tampering with a witness in the first degree, and terroristic threats, all felonies. Bail was set at $100,000.
She could not be reached for comment Thursday.
According to the complaint, Trinis Edwards, 37, of St. Paul, was charged in February with second-degree assault and domestic assault in a case involving his wife. He was charged several times again for having violated court orders to have no contact with Lori Edwards.
In March, on two separate occasions, Judah McNeilly and Stephen McNeilly also notified authorities that Trinis Edwards had assaulted Kristi McNeilly.
Last Sunday, the complaint states, Woodbury police were called to Stephen McNeilly's home where they found him with a head wound, having been struck by his daughter with a candlestick. Kristi McNeilly, her mouth bleeding and a front tooth missing, said her father had assaulted her.
Kristi McNeilly said that argument was about "her father stealing from her law firm," the complaint against her states.
Judah McNeilly told police later that the assault on the father stemmed from Stephen McNeilly being a witness in the Trinis Edwards case. Police had contacted Judah because Kristi McNeilly had just threatened him. She told him that she'd hunt him down "like a dog" and that she could get a gun from Edwards, the charges state. He said in the complaint that his sister and Edwards have been lovers since March.
Judah McNeilly also is alleged to have told police that his sister had told him that she'd made the deal with Lori Edwards to not testify or to lie, and that Kristi McNeilly "also agreed to provide housing, alcohol and drugs for Lori as part of the agreement."
On Thursday, records show, McNeilly disqualified herself from representing Trinis Edwards in the three Ramsey County cases against him.
Anthony Lonetree • 612-673-4109
