Ronald I. Meshbesher is a prominent trial attorney and President of The Minnesota law firm Meshbesher & Spence. Mr. Meshbesher began practicing law at the age of twenty-four in the Hennepin County Attorney's Office as a prosecutor, where he tried forty-five felony cases in his first three years with a 92% conviction rate. He founded the law firm of Meshbesher & Spence in 1961. The Minneapolis Star Tribune called him "a dean of the Minnesota criminal-defense bar for 45 years" [1]
In 1992 Mr. Meshbesher wrote theTrial Handbook for Minnesota Lawyers, 1992, a resource for trial lawyers.[2]
He has also founded, served as President or Vice President for numerous legal associations such as the Minnesota Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers(1984–85)[3] and the American Board of Criminal Lawyers.
The Joel and Ethan Coen film A Serious Man, a black comedy, shot a scene at Mr. Meshbesher's Minneapolis law office and mentions "Ron Meshbesher" as an attorney on occasion.[4]
Kronholm kidnapping case
The Elisabeth Congdon murder trial
The Piper kidnapping case. On July 27, 1972, Piper was kidnapped from her home in Orono, Minnesota and held for one million dollars ransom. At that time it was the largest ransom ever reported in the United States and the third largest in the world. Piper was found two days later, handcuffed and chained to a tree in the woods of Jay Cooke State Park, near Duluth. Five years later, the FBI arrested Kenneth Callahan and Donald Larson for the kidnapping. The two suspects were convicted, but an appeals court threw out the verdict. After that the men were later acquitted on retrial. The case was never solved. Piper died of cancer in 1988 at age 65.
The Dave Forbes hockey assault trial. The result was a mistrial as the jury could not reach a verdict.
The Bicek bombing trial
The Dalkon Shield fraud prosecution
The Carlos Vignali drug trafficking trial. This case made the news again in 2001 when Carlos Vignali had his federal prison sentence commuted by President of the United States Bill Clinton just prior to leaving office, as a part of a group of commutations and pardons.