A woman who's awaiting sentencing for trying to bribe a juror in the first Feeding Our Future trial that followed a sprawling federal investigation into food aid fraud during the COVID-19 pandemic is facing a new charge of drunken driving.

The Minnesota State Patrol says Ladan Ali had a blood alcohol concentration of .284, or more than 3 1/2 times the legal limit, when she rear-ended another driver at low speed on Highway 55 in Mendota Heights on Feb. 14.

After both vehicles pulled over, the driver said Ali hit him a second time before fleeing. A trooper found Ali stopped in the center lane of traffic on Minnesota Highway 62 near Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

According to the criminal complaint, Ali “almost fell over” and once inside the squad car “began screaming and hitting the vehicle divider and had removed her handcuffs two different times.”

At the Hennepin County Jail, the officer advised Ali to contact an attorney. The trooper said that Ali “then sat in her chair and yelled at him, at one point dialing on the phone provided and then smacking the phone against the phone base.” She also allegedly hit the machine that the trooper was setting up for a second breath test.

Ali, 32, pleaded guilty to jury bribery for delivering a Hallmark gift bag with $120,000 to the home of a juror in the first Feeding Our Future trial in June.

A federal judge scheduled a March 5 hearing to determine whether Ali's pretrial release should be revoked. She's due in Hennepin County court the following week on the drunken driving charge.

Ali is among five people charged in the jury bribery case and the second to plead guilty. When she was charged in that case she was listed as being from Seattle. In the DWI charge, she’s listed as living in the Twin Cities suburb of Fridley.

Collected from Minnesota Public Radio News. View original source here.