Man sentenced to 16 1/2 years for fatally shooting victim in back during St. Paul robbery

A man who was 16 when he fatally shot his victim during a robbery attempt in St. Paul’s Frogtown neighborhood nearly two years ago was sentenced to a 16½-year prison term.

Judge Sophia Vuelo on Monday sentenced Daeshon Lee Tucker, 18, to 16½ years for fatally shooting 24-year-old Marcus Darnell Miller in 2022. Ramsey County prosecutors charged Tucker with two counts of second-degree murder, but he pleaded guilty to a single murder count days before his jury trial was scheduled to begin.

With credit for time served, he is scheduled for release in 2033 with the remainder of the term on supervised release.

Charging documents say Miller was out getting drinks with his girlfriend in the area of Edmund Avenue W. and Grotto Street N. when Tucker and a driver, wearing ski masks and armed with handguns, drove over a sidewalk to cut off the couple. Miller’s girlfriend ran to hide behind his vehicle and record what happened. She told investigators that men searched Miller, telling him that he owed people money. Miller turned and ran but the two men shot at him until Miller collapsed near the vehicle.

The shooters fled. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner later confirmed that Miller died from blood loss caused by a gunshot wound to his back.

Investigators tracked and arrested Tucker weeks later through surveillance footage and a palm print which tied him to the crime.

Comments on Tucker’s social media pages at the time also suggested that he killed Miller. One post made days after the murder read: “He tried ta run and he tripped.” The post was followed by a ninja assassin emoji.

“This description is consistent with Miller’s movements as he tried to escape from the shooters,” charging documents said. “Officers commented that they did not think the murder was supposed to happen that way, to which Tucker replied, ‘It wasn’t supposed to happen at all.’”

An arrest and charges have not been announced for the driver.