By Nancy Huddleston, Correspondent

Updated May 8 at 11 a.m.

Prosecutors allege that handwritten letters from jail penned by Craigslist murder suspect Michael John Anderson of Savage detail that he tried to hire someone to take responsibility for killing Katherine Ann Olson last fall.

The letters were the subject of two motions filed by the Scott County Attorney’s Office that were discussed Wednesday during Anderson’s omnibus hearing in Scott County District Court in Shakopee. Assistant County Attorney Mike Groh said the letters were intercepted by jail officials and copied for the prosecutor’s office. Then the letters were delivered to Anderson’s parents in Savage.

“The defendant was seeking to hire someone to take responsibility for the killing,” Groh said in his argument that the original letters need to be turned over to police and that a handwriting analysis also needs be conducted.

Anderson, 19, is accused of luring Olson to his parents’ Kipling Avenue home in downtown Savage on Oct. 25, 2007 with a Craigslist Web advertisement for a babysitter. Police say he shot the 24-year-old woman from Cottage Grove in the back in his bedroom of the home and then moved her body to the trunk of her car. Her purse and smashed cell phone and a bloody towel with Anderson’s name written on it were found in a garbage can near the horseshoe pits at Warren Butler Park on Oct. 26. And her car was found in the Rudy Kraemer Park Preserve, just over the Burnsville/Savage border.

Alan Margolis, Anderson’s attorney, said he had the letters and had consulted the Minnesota Lawyers Professional Responsibility Board seeking advice on how to handle them.

“I’m more than happy to turn over the letters that I don’t necessarily want in my possession for a long time,” Margolis said.

But he urged Judge Mary Theisen to put the letters under court seal so that they could not be released to the public.

Margolis also questioned if the letters had been properly intercepted, if they were admissible in court and said sealing them in the court record would not slow down the prosecution’s case because they already had copies of them.

Theisen rebuffed Margolis’ arguments and ordered him to turn the letters over to the detective in charge of the investigation for the Savage Police Department and to allow the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) to complete a handwriting analysis on Anderson.

Groh said the letters indicate “substantive evidence of a crime” and there’s no reason not to turn them over to police because “the letters demonstrate the defendant was trying to cover up what he did and his guilt.”

As well, Groh commented, “I’m not aware that the defense attorney is the proper repository for evidence.”

Margolis did not dispute the existence of the letters, but called the state’s argument a “generalization” of the content. He also questioned if the proper legal procedures were being followed to get a handwriting analysis.

To settle the argument, the judge asked to see the defense attorney’s copy of the letters. As she read through three notebook-page letters, she glanced up once to ask: “Who’s Gary?”

Margolis answered that Gary was a friend of the defendant.

After the discussion about the letters and handwriting analysis, the focus turned to Anderson’s omnibus hearing.

Anderson is facing first- and second-degree murder charges in connection with Olson’s death.

During an omnibus hearing, pleas are typically entered to move the court process along to adhere to the constitutional right to a speedy trial. In February, defense attorneys and prosecutors mutually agreed to continue the omnibus hearing so that all the evidence can be reviewed prior to entering a plea.

That theme continued in court this week as the omnibus hearing was once again continued until June 26.

Margolis said 500 pages of material, not including photographs, has not been received by the defense team.

What’s more, now that the handwriting sample has been ordered, Margolis wants copies of that evidence, too. And more time will be needed by defense attorneys to examine material seized on Anderson’s computer by the BCA that allegedly contains child pornography.

Prosecutors did not object to the request for a continuance, noting they would need more time to prepare if Anderson’s attorneys use the mental illness defense.

Family reaction

The Olson family sat solemnly in the courtroom and walked out together at the end of the hearing.

Rolf Olson said the family is holding up well, although the process is “frustrating and painful.”

“We are surrounded by love and support of thousands of people and that has been terrific,” he said. “As time goes on, our sense of loss increases and the emptiness we feel is very real.”

Nancy Olson said the family continues to appreciate the support of family, friends and law enforcement officials during this stage of their grieving process.

The letters revealed in court were a surprise to the family, she noted, and they were not privy to their contents.