Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth's office misstated drug-conspiracy law to jury in fentanyl trial

During Mohamed Abdulgani Ahmed's July 2023 trial on fentanyl-trafficking charges in Polk County District Court, Polk County Attorney Greg Widseth's office told jurors in closing argument that they did not need to find Ahmed knew the drug-trafficking conspiracy involved quantities above the statutory first-degree threshold -- misstating the knowledge requirement under Minnesota conspiracy law and controlling case precedent. The jury convicted Ahmed on six counts, including first-degree conspiracy and sale, on July 12, 2023, in a case involving roughly 800 fentanyl pills described as the largest such seizure in Polk County history.

The closing-argument misstatement is the latest in a two-decade pattern of legally aggressive charging practices documented by reporters covering Widseth's office. Prior reporting found Widseth obtained most of the state's convictions under an archaic "drug tax stamp" law before public ridicule led the Legislature to repeal it, charged a woman for possessing bong water under an unrelated statute, and sought to expand "drug-free zone" designations -- including asking the East Grand Forks City Council to designate more public land as park space -- to trigger sentencing enhancements. A county public defender said the drug-free-zone expansion made it "virtually impossible for any person to traverse the city" without falling inside an enhancement zone.

Polk County's incarceration rate is three times the Minnesota average. Widseth has held the county attorney's office for more than 20 years and has run unopposed in every election since 2002, leaving voters -- the primary check on prosecutorial discretion -- without an alternative on the ballot.

Updates

2026-07-29 — Minnesota Supreme Court vacated part of Ahmed's conviction over the misstatement [3]

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that Widseth's office "plainly erred by misstating the law" in its 2023 closing argument, reversing in part, vacating in part, and remanding for a new trial on the three convictions Ahmed had challenged. An intermediate Court of Appeals ruling in December 2024 had affirmed the conspiracy and sale convictions while reversing a lesser-included possession count; the Supreme Court's July 2026 decision superseded that ruling on the challenged counts.