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Craig Stevenson

Craig Stevenson is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Justice-Denied.org. He is President and CEO of Stevenson Technical Services, Inc. (STSI), which traces its roots to Craig’s Radio & TV, founded in 1979 and renamed STSI in 1989. He also founded and operated C&R Cable Company, Inc. from 1981 until its sale in 1989. Craig and his wife, Marie, have been marr...

Craig Stevenson

Latest reporting

Browse investigations, commentary, and records-based analysis from Craig Stevenson.

By Craig StevensonPublished March 16, 2026Updated October 29, 2026About 11 min read
Distorting the Law

Antiquated Cases

This post examines an Otter Tail District Court judge’s use of antiquated case law in his opinions and why it conflicted with newer, better-fitting Minnesota authority.

Not every old case is bad law. Courts sometimes rely on older decisions because they remain relevant, controlling, and on point. Age alone is not the problem. The problem arises when a court reaches past newer…
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By Craig StevensonPublished March 14, 2026Updated September 12, 2026About 10 min read
The Candor Files

“We Told the Other Side to Pound Sand”

Sean Stevenson’s deleted Patrick Burns review

Sometimes a single document reveals far more than the party who created it ever intended. In our case, one of those documents was a public Google review that Sean Stevenson of Rosemount, Minnesota, posted about attorney…
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By Craig StevensonPublished March 13, 2026Updated October 29, 2026About 14 min read
Distorting the Law

The Elements of a Crime

Otter Tail County District Court Judge Kevin Miller suggested that whether a statement accuses someone of a crime “naturally turns” on the actual elements of that crime. Minnesota law says otherwise.

In our case, Stevenson v. Stevenson (56-CV-20-2928), Judge Kevin Miller did not merely decide that certain statements fell short of defamation per se. He adopted a much broader and more troubling premise: that whether a…
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By Craig StevensonPublished March 12, 2026Updated October 29, 2026About 20 min read
Distorting the Law

Setting Aside the Fact

When a court brackets out the very fact summary judgment requires it to consider.

Sometimes a single phrase reveals more than pages of legal analysis. In my case, Stevenson v. Stevenson (56-CV-20-2928), that phrase was Judge Kevin Miller’s — “setting aside the fact” — used twice in the order…
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By Craig StevensonPublished March 10, 2026Updated October 19, 2026About 13 min read
Distorting the Law

Motion to Amend Complaint

How disputed facts became the basis for denying an amendment the rules say should be freely allowed.

Scope note: This article concerns a motion to amend a civil complaint under Minnesota Rule of Civil Procedure 15.01. That rule directs courts to freely grant leave to amend when justice requires, subject to recognized…
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By Craig StevensonPublished March 5, 2026Updated September 12, 2026About 18 min read
Distorting the Law

The Common Interest Doctrine (2021)

How a narrow anti-waiver doctrine became a broad shield against civil discovery.

There’s a particular kind of judicial error that isn’t just “wrong.” It’s the kind that changes the rules midstream—the kind that converts discovery into a guessing game, and turns the words “privilege” and…
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By Craig StevensonPublished March 4, 2026Updated October 8, 2026About 15 min read
The Fairness Files

The Privilege Log Problem: 2 Sentences vs. 111 Pages

What a privilege log is supposed to prevent

“Privilege” is not supposed to be a trapdoor in civil discovery. But that is exactly what the privilege log problem creates: one side can withhold documents, invoke privilege, and leave everyone else guessing what was…
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By Craig StevensonPublished March 1, 2026Updated August 6, 2026About 13 min read
The Oversight Files

Oversight Without Oversight

When a chief judge won’t engage the record

In Minnesota, a “chief judge” is not a ceremonial title. By statute, the chief judge of a judicial district exercises general administrative authority over the courts in that district and has the power to make judicial…
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By Craig StevensonPublished February 25, 2026Updated August 25, 2026About 9 min read
The Oversight Files

Eroding Trust, One Dismissal at a Time

A watchdog that won’t look is not a watchdog.

The Minnesota Board on Judicial Standards (BJS) describes its mission in public-trust terms: to “promote and preserve public confidence in the independence, integrity, and impartiality of our judicial system by…
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By Craig StevensonPublished February 20, 2026Updated August 6, 2026About 8 min read
Independent Investigations

State v. Jones: The Appellant’s Brief Draws a Line Minnesota Shouldn’t Cross

Why Minnesota’s ban on independent judicial fact-gathering cannot survive a “unique circumstances” exception.

On January 21, 2026, I wrote about the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision to grant review in State v. Jones (A24-1451)—and why the case matters far beyond one defendant and one trial judge. The question the Court…
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By Craig StevensonPublished February 17, 2026Updated August 25, 2026About 19 min read
Distorting the Law

Spousal Privilege

How selective quotations and omitted authority turned marital privacy into a supposedly waivable boundary.

In her article titled Piercing Spousal Privilege, Marie described what it felt like to have a district court try to force open our marital privacy—what Minnesota law calls spousal privilege. The issue wasn’t abstract…
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By Craig StevensonPublished February 4, 2026Updated September 12, 2026About 27 min read
Distorting the Law

Ellipses, Omitted Text, and the Appearance of Bias

What a new appellate decision gets right—and what it accidentally exposes about how trust in the judicial system erodes.

On February 2, 2026, the Minnesota Court of Appeals decided Zinda v. Heintzeman, a case where the appellant argued that District Court Judge Kristine DeMay showed bias because of “omitted” text behind ellipses. The…
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About the author

Craig Stevenson

Craig Stevenson is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Justice-Denied.org. He is President and CEO of Stevenson Technical Services, Inc. (STSI), which traces its roots to Craig’s Radio & TV, founded in 1979 and renamed STSI in 1989. He also founded and operated C&R Cable Company, Inc. from 1981 until its sale in 1989. Craig and his wife, Marie, have been married for more than 36 years and are the parents of two adult daughters.