A term topping 32 years was handed down to a teenager who was 15 years old when he drove behind a motorist heading home from a St. Paul grocery store and killed her at random with a gunshot to the head.
Melvin D. Williams, of St. Paul, was sentenced as an adult in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to second-degree murder by drive-by shooting in connection with the shooting of 34-year-old Yuliya "Julia" Li on Feb. 16, 2022.
The sentence from Judge Reynaldo Aligada means that with credit for time in custody since his arrest, Williams can expect to serve the first 19 3⁄4 years of his term in prison and the balance on supervised release.
However, a newly created state board would have the power to release inmates who committed their crime as juveniles into community supervision programs such as probation if they have already served at least 15 years.
In 2007, Li moved from Kazakhstan to study at the University of Minnesota, where she earned a bachelor's degree in economics and global studies.
She left the Twin Cities to work in brand management and marketing for General Electric and Procter & Gamble before returning to St. Paul in 2016 to pursue a master's degree in business administration from the University of St. Thomas. Li joined H.B. Fuller in a marketing role in July 2017, and she most recently worked as a global business director.
"This tragic and horrific incident left a permanent hole in the hearts of the victim's family, her coworkers at H.B. Fuller and our community," said Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the County Attorney's Office.
Li's husband, Ubong Udoessien, was traveling in his native Nigeria when he learned of her death. Udoessien immediately booked a flight to Almaty, Kazakhstan, to support Li's family and to help arrange for her body to be flown back to the country.