A murder case that was supposed to go to trial Monday in Hennepin County has been dismissed because the prosecution's key witness has died.
Death of key prosecution witness forces dismissal of Minneapolis murder case
Mozell Jones' trial was scheduled to begin this week.
March 9, 2022 at 3:35PM
Mozell M. Jones III, 20, is no longer charged with second-degree murder and illegal weapons possession in connection with the shooting of Boris L. Likuwa, 21, of Minneapolis on Aug. 3 in the 2300 block of N. Dupont Avenue.
The County Attorney's Office notified District Court in a filing that it dismissed the case against Jones, of Minneapolis, because "the State's key witness is now deceased and is thus unavailable to testify. The State therefore cannot prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt."
The prosecution's filing did not identify the witness or explain the circumstances of the death.
"Our office isn't going to disclose any additional information regarding the witness cited in the dismissal," said Lacey Severins, spokeswoman for the County Attorney's Office, on Wednesday. Severins did add Thursday morning that "the witness' death was unrelated to the [murder] case."
An adult in the home at the time of the shooting told police that Jones was angry because he believed that Likuwa took advantage of Jones being incarcerated and stole from him. The complaint did not say what was allegedly stolen from Jones.
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