A man acquitted of a triple murder in St. Paul has received a term topping 25 years for a shooting and kidnapping that happened elsewhere in the city one day before the killings.
Man acquitted of triple murder in St. Paul given 25-year term for shooting on day before killings
Conflicting witness accounts led to not guilty verdicts in the murder case.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
January 30, 2024 at 9:50PM
Antonio D. Wright, 42, of St. Paul, was sentenced Monday in Ramsey County District Court after a jury convicted him of attempted murder and kidnapping in connection with the shooting on Sept. 2, 2022, that left a man with multiple gunshot wounds to his back and shoulder, at a home in the 1000 block of of Wilson Avenue.
The charges said Wright had accused the man of not being trustworthy with information about a killing in 2017. Wright held the man at gunpoint in a van, according to the charges. The man soon fled on foot and was shot, according to the criminal complaint.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Wright is expected to serve about 16 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
In September, a Ramsey County judge found Wright not guilty of the killings of Angelica Gonzales, 33; Cory Freeman, 42; and Maisha Spaulding, 44. They were shot dead by a masked assailant in a home in St. Paul’s Payne-Phalen neighborhood in September 2022.
Wright was implicated in the killings by a man who survived a gunshot wound to the head during the shooting. The witness said he recognized Wright despite the shooter’s mask, and said the tan gun used in the shootings was similar to a gun he thought Wright owned.
The witness identified Wright as the shooter in a photo lineup and said the shooter was bald, but during the trial the witness testified that Wright was not the shooter, and that the shooter had dreadlocks. Wright’s aunt testified that he was with her in Chicago at the time of the shootings.
The governor said it may be 2027 or 2028 by the time the market catches up to demand.
