A Ramsey County judge has dismissed two counts of second-degree manslaughter against a Roseville father whose 15-month-old daughter died after falling from a second-story apartment balcony last year, ruling that the extraordinary consequence of deportation to Somalia justified tossing the case in furtherance of justice. Hiba Hassan fell from a shallow Juliet balcony at an apartment on the 2700 block of Lexington Avenue on July 6, 2025, and died the following day. Her father, 36-year-old Hanad Hassan Jama, had faced trial over allegations he was not directly supervising his children when the fall occurred.
According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Ramsey County District Judge Andrew Gordon granted a defense motion to dismiss the charges against Jama, finding that he was absent when his daughter fell and had left the children's direct care to his wife, Aisha Ali. Jama was charged in October 2025 and is subject to a federal deportation order to Somalia, which Gordon found constituted an extraordinary collateral consequence supporting dismissal. Jama told police that Ali said she was going to shower and that he told her he was going to work before he left the apartment.
Ali, 31, told officers she had been in the shower around the time of Hiba's fall, and police later determined the shower stall was dry, according to the Star Tribune's reporting. Ali acknowledged that the balcony screen was torn and off its track, and she has said she believed Jama was watching the children at the time. She remains charged with two counts of second-degree manslaughter and is scheduled to go to trial on October 5, 2026.
What Happened the Day Hiba Fell
A 911 caller reported that a girl had fallen from an apartment balcony, and police and medics found Hiba on the driveway outside the building's garage, unresponsive and suffering from a head injury. Officers at the scene yelled for another child to go inside after finding a 2½-year-old girl crawling through the balcony's vertical safety bars and holding onto the outside of the structure; a woman retrieved the child. The balcony sliding door was found partly open, and the screen had a large tear and was off its track.
The balcony itself was a shallow Juliet balcony, a style named for the balcony in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet that typically offers a decorative railing in front of a door with little to no standing room. Court records described the space as one that should have offered scant room for a child to reach the edge, raising questions about how Hiba was able to fall from it.
Earlier Warnings About Children on the Balcony
Property management at the apartment complex had issued recorded phone warnings to both parents in August and September 2024 after staff and residents documented the couple's children hanging outside the second-story balcony window over the garage door, according to reporting by FOX 9. Those earlier warnings had factored into prosecutors' original decision to bring criminal charges against both parents, alleging they had prior knowledge of the balcony's hazards well before the fatal fall.
The Legal Path to Dismissal
Judge Gordon's dismissal relied on Minnesota Statute § 631.21, which gives district court judges explicit statutory authority to order a criminal action dismissed on the court's own motion or upon motion “in furtherance of justice.” Gordon was appointed to the Ramsey County bench by Governor Tim Walz in September 2021 after previously serving as Deputy Director of Community Legal Services at the Legal Rights Center in Minneapolis, according to the Minnesota Judicial Branch.
The dismissal comes against the backdrop of the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky, which held that criminal defense counsel are constitutionally required under the Sixth Amendment to advise noncitizen clients when charges carry clear deportation risks, according to the Immigrant Defense Project. Because federal immigration authorities evaluate state criminal records under their own criteria, noncitizens facing charges in Minnesota can face deportability regardless of how the state case is ultimately resolved, per Keil Defense.
Under Minnesota Statute § 609.205, a conviction for second-degree manslaughter carries a statutory maximum of up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to $20,000, or both — the exposure Ali still faces ahead of her October trial. Dennis Gerhardstein said the Ramsey County Attorney's Office is reviewing Judge Gordon's order and will decide later whether to take further action; the office has reserved the right to charge Jama anew.
A National Pattern of Balcony and Window Falls
Hiba's death reflects a broader national safety concern. Safety statistics from Safe Kids Worldwide indicate that approximately 3,300 children under age 6 in the United States suffer injuries from falling out of windows or off balconies each year, according to data cited by Prince William County. Research published in the journal Pediatrics has found that children under age 4 who fall from windows or balconies are significantly more likely to sustain severe head injuries and face fatal outcomes than older children, per Consumer Notice.
National child safety guidelines specify that balcony and porch railings should feature vertical bar spacing of no more than 4 inches to prevent infants and toddlers from slipping through, according to Prince William County's public safety materials. That standard is directly relevant to the Roseville case, given that responding officers found a 2½-year-old child crawling through the balcony's safety bars moments after Hiba's fall.
Child Protection Review Continues
Under Minnesota Statute Chapter 260E, child protective services agencies initiate investigations and Child in Need of Protection or Services proceedings when alleged neglect or home environmental hazards endanger a child's safety, according to Roach Law PLLC. Such a review would typically run alongside the criminal case in matters involving alleged home safety hazards, though the dossier does not specify the outcome of any such review in this case. With Ali's trial set for October 5 and the county attorney's office still weighing its next move on Jama, the case remains unresolved for a family already marked by tragedy.
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