A judge, citing insufficient evidence for a trial to proceed, dismissed a case this week against a man who was accused of lighting a St. Paul apartment on fire three years ago.

Ramsey County District Judge Leonardo Castro threw out the case against Matthew Ryan Gieske on Tuesday as a jury trial was about to begin, later noting in his order that the prosecution said in court the witness who could identify Gieske as the man who started the fire would not be called to testify.

“The State did not provide a reason why it was not calling the witness,” the judge’s dismissal order read.

Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said Thursday in a statement that a “key witness” had left Minnesota and could not be located for trial.

Gieske, 42, of St. Paul, had been charged with first-degree arson in connection with the blaze at an apartment building in the city’s North End neighborhood on Sept. 7, 2021. He was found to be incompetent to face the charge in August 2023, and later civilly committed for a mental illness. In July, he was found competent for court proceedings.

Partially melted gas can recovered

According to the criminal complaint, a man told police he saw Gieske holding a butcher knife outside the apartment building in the 1600 block of Marion Street. The man, who was a tenant, said he was familiar with Gieske and knew he “had displayed odd behavior in the past,” the complaint read.

When Gieske pointed the knife at the man and his sister, the man clicked his handgun’s safety and asked Gieske to get away from them, the complaint said.

Gieske left, but came back later and tried to get into the man’s second-floor apartment, the complaint alleged. The man looked out his peephole and saw Gieske and heard the noise of someone shaking a lighter fluid can.

The man said he saw Gieske holding something that was on fire, possibly a lighter, and then saw flames rush up his door. The flames entered his apartment over and underneath the door, and the man escaped via his balcony. The building was evacuated, and no one was injured.

Police recovered a partially melted gas can in the hallway and noted that the building was severely damaged by fire.

Officers made contact with Gieske, who “appeared to be in crisis and did not follow directives,” the complaint said. He was taken into custody, and the man identified him as the man at his door. Gieske declined to give a statement to police.

‘State lacks sufficient evidence’

On Tuesday, prior to calling for the jury, Castro asked the prosecution and defense about witnesses who were going to testify at trial.

The prosecution identified several witnesses, but said none would be able to identify Gieske as the person who intentionally started the fire, according to Castro’s dismissal order.

“The only identity evidence the State could offer was that the Defendant was seen leaving the apartment complex that was engulfed in flames,” the order read. “First responders were attempting to evacuate the apartment complex at that time.”

The prosecution sought to introduce body-worn camera evidence of two people identifying the clothing of a person they saw exiting the apartment building. Castro, after reviewing the body-worn footage, concluded their statements were in response to investigative questioning and “were not excited utterances,” his order read. “The statements would therefore be excluded without the testimony of the witnesses.”

Castro wrote the prosecution did not intend to produce evidence that could create a link “between (the Defendant) and the person who started the fire.”

“Other than the Defendant’s presence at or around the scene of the fire, no other evidence, circumstantial or direct, would be produced that would implicate the Defendant,” the order read.

Castro noted that, based on what the prosecution told him in court, no evidence of motive or opportunity to commit the crime would be presented at trial.

“Therefore, this Court concludes that based on the evidence that would be presented at trial, the State lacks sufficient evidence to establish probable cause and present this matter to a trier of fact,” the order read.

Gieske remains in custody on a pending civil petition as mentally ill and dangerous filed by the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office. A trial on the matter is set for Dec. 19 before Judge Timothy Carey.