Plea deal for Minneapolis man charged with two murders draws ire from families

Victims and family members railed against a plea agreement for a Minneapolis man who admitted killing two people and attempting to kill two others within the span of a month last year, amid other criminal charges.

Calon Hatchett, 21, agreed to a plea agreement on Tuesday that stipulates he will be sentenced to 47 years in prison, and could be released in 31 years. He pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder just as his criminal trial was set to get underway with jury selection.

Hatchett was 20 years old when he shot and killed 30-year-old Tonia Powell on July 23, 2023, in a south Minneapolis apartment building after the two had stepped into the hallway to smoke weed. Hatchett left Powell to die then walked into the apartment of Powell’s girlfriend, Heaven Lacy, and shot her three times.

Lacy, a mother to two boys, survived but was left with devastating injuries after bullets struck her chest, pierced her lung and and exited through her back. She was able to identify Hatchett as the shooter when officers arrived on the scene.

“I just know he’s a psychopath,” Lacy said after attending the plea hearing, which she did not know was coming until she arrived at the courthouse anticipating the start of trial. “I feel like he should have gotten more time than he got.”

When police arrested Hatchett in downtown Minneapolis, a Glock 10-millimeter handgun was inside his backpack. It matched the casings found at the shooting that killed Powell.

Police then discovered the Glock matched the casings in another shooting.

While Hatchett was in custody he was charged with the murder of Ali Reed in south Minneapolis near Chicago Ave. and 21st St. on June 25, 2023. According to court documents, Reed and his girlfriend were walking when they passed Hatchett with a group of men. Hatchett shot and killed Reed and fired at the woman while she fled.

“The violence perpetrated by Mr. Hatchett on the victims of these shootings was shocking, and a long prison sentence is appropriate to protect the community,” said Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty.

Abdulla Reed, Ali Reed’s father, said the idea that Hatchett received a long prison sentence was a “slap in the face.”

“It came out of nowhere, I had to abruptly leave work yesterday,” Abdulla Reed said. “The last time we spoke [with Hennepin County prosecutors] was his last hearing when it was going to trial selection. They said no deals are going to be on the table, we have what we need to convict him.”

“We went there listened to this testimony of this dude trying to murder four people within a month all while being on bail for two armed carjackings and they threw away everything.”

Hatchett’s attorney, Robert M. Christensen, said they fought to keep evidence from the Reed killing and several other crimes Hatchett had been charged with out of the trial for the shooting death of Powell. When they lost that challenge, it changed the calculus of the prison sentence Hatchett was facing, if found guilty, and ultimately led to the plea deal.

“He was looking at 1,110 months, he would have gotten out when he was 81,” Christensen said. “We talked it over and he made the decision that he made. The jury was going to hear about two murders in one, was what we were up against.”

Abdulla said his son, a framing carpenter who loved pets and everyone he met, had been on a date with his girlfriend, after midnight on a Saturday “not an obscene time for a man his age” when Hatchett killed him. “Completely random,” Abdulla said. “He’s a serial killer.”

According to the defense filing, Hatchett had planned to argue he was in the Minnehaha Falls area when Powell was killed and that another man, who is now deceased, was the shooter.

Lacy said that when Hatchett entered his plea and was giving the statement of facts, he audibly laughed when the judge asked him if he had gone to the apartment intending to kill Powell and Lacy.

“He’s very smug,” Lacy said. “He’s very arrogant and I don’t think he even cares about spending time in prison.”

One year after being shot and losing her girlfriend, Lacy said that she is doing “a little bit” better. It’s difficult for her to work because of back pain and lingering issues from the shooting. She’s balancing being a mother with trying to grieve and heal.

“It’s been hard,” she said. “But I have a better grasp of things now than I did a year ago.”

Star Tribune staff writer Kim Hyatt contributed to this story.