St. Paul celebrity chef Justin Sutherland pleads guilty to threatening violence toward girlfriend

Celebrity chef Justin Sutherland has agreed to plead guilty to a charge that he threatened to shoot his girlfriend this past summer in St. Paul and hit her with a gun.

Sutherland, 40, entered his plea Monday in Ramsey County District Court on a felony count of threats of violence in connection with the incident on June 28 in the 800 block of Front Avenue, where police responded to a call about a man with a gun.

The plea agreement between Sutherland and the County Attorney's Office calls for a 360-day sentence to be set aside in favor of two years' probation, while he completes 100 hours of community service and undergoes a chemical dependency evaluation. He would also be barred from possessing a gun.

Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 13, when Judge Andrew Gordon will decide whether to accept the agreed-upon terms.

In an interview Tuesday with the Minnesota Star Tribune, Sutherland said, "I was fully prepared to go to trial, but I did not want to give you media vultures the circus you were hoping for."

He went on to contend "there was never a gun with an intended use toward her, [and] I absolutely did not assault her. There was no point dragging this out for the next four to six months."

John T. Daly, Sutherland's attorney, said that his client admitted during Monday's hearing to only "verbal threats of violence. He said some things he shouldn't have."

The criminal complaint disclosed that a woman told police that Sutherland pointed a gun and vowed to shoot her, choked her and struck her in the chest with the weapon. Fearing for her life, she put up her hands and pleaded not to be shot, the complaint continued.

Officers arrested Sutherland during what turned out to be a second visit from police that evening concerning a report of domestic violence. He was released on his own recognizance three days later.

At the time Sutherland was charged, defense attorneyDaly told the Minnesota Star Tribune that the complaint "is riddled with falsehoods. He never physically assaulted anybody, never pointed a gun at anybody and never choked anybody."

Sutherland was the original executive chef for the Handsome Hog, a Southern-style restaurant in St. Paul that opened in 2016. He has severed ties with the eatery but has since opened a breakfast sandwich shop, Big E, on Grand Avenue in St. Paul.

He was also planning to open a new restaurant with his father, Kerry Sutherland, in the former Golden Thyme Cafe space in St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood. He also announced plans to open Pearl & the Thief on the ground floor of the 22-story O2 Luxury Tower in Minneapolis' Mill District. Those projects in the works have since been cancelled.

Sutherland has made several appearances on TV, competing on "Top Chef" and winning "Iron Chef America." He won an Emmy for his web series "Taste the Culture."

According to the criminal complaint:

A 911 caller reported shortly after 8 p.m. seeing a man, later identified as Sutherland, with a gun enter the back door of a building along with a woman with her hands up.

About the same time, a second 911 caller said she was on FaceTime with her sister, who said her boyfriend was trying to kill her. This caller could hear Sutherland say, "I wish you were dead right now." The caller added that Sutherland had his hands around her sister's neck.

Police arrived and saw Sutherland exit the back of the building. An officer ordered him to face away and put his hands on his head. "I called 911, and you trying to [expletive] arrest me?" the complaint quoted him as screaming. "You should just [expletive] kill me."

Another man exited the building and told police that he and Sutherland have been longtime friends. He told police that Sutherland moved into the building a week earlier and was planning to open a restaurant there. In the meantime, the friend said, Sutherland was living there in an apartment.

Sutherland texted him that day and said he and his girlfriend had been fighting. The friend said he was on the way to help calm things down.

The "visibly shaking and crying" girlfriend told police she and Sutherland have been a couple for the past two years, and they were arguing about him telling her that they were not going to a music festival.

She also said he was taking out on her the trouble he was having with neighbors acting racist toward him. That's when she called her sister. She said he squeezed her neck briefly with both hands and said, "I want you dead."

She said she ran to a neighbor's home to use a phone, and Sutherland walked out of the building with a handgun and told her he would shoot her if she returned. As she approached him, the girlfriend continued, Sutherland pointed the gun at her and then hit her in the chest with the weapon. She said she put up her hands and said, "Don't shoot me."

She said the friend soon arrived and disarmed Sutherland, who screamed at her that he wanted her dead. She described the gun to police and said he has other firearms in the residence.

A search of the residence by police turned up a gun case on a bed with two handguns inside. One of them appeared to have blood on it. Sutherland's hands were bloody when police arrived. Officers also found in the home eight other guns and ammunition.

The girlfriend said Sutherland had been physically and verbally abusive to her in the past, including when he broke her car windshield two days earlier.

Police were at the residence about 90 minutes earlier, when the girlfriend called 911 and said Sutherland choked her and tried to kick her out of the apartment. She refused to give dispatch his name and kept disconnecting from 911. Officers spoke to her, and she said everything was fine. No arrest was made stemming from the earlier call.