An alleged shooter who admitted in October to killing a 20-year-old man on St. Paul’s Raspberry Island in 2023 was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea on Monday after learning a mistake meant he faced more years in prison than what was outlined in his agreement with the prosecution.
Romello Markell Ifonlaja-Randle, 24, of Maplewood, was supposed to be sentenced Monday by Ramsey County District Judge Kellie Charles in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Marcus Anthony Baker Jr., of St. Paul, at the Mississippi River park on Aug. 14, 2023. Prosecutors allege Ifonlaja-Randle punched and then shot Baker, who was playing a rap song affiliated with a rival gang.
Marcus Anthony Baker Jr. (Courtesy of Sade Whitmore)
Ifonlaja-Randle had pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder and illegal possession of a firearm after reaching the plea deal. Based on a tabulation of his criminal history points, state sentencing guidelines put his presumptive prison term at about 32 years. His attorney could have argued the low end of the guidelines box, meaning the possibility of five fewer years.
However, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Elizabeth Lamin told Charles that a pre-sentence investigation report came back last week showing that Ifonlaja-Randle actually has a history score one level higher. That means he faces a prison sentence between 29 and 40 years, with a presumptive 34-year term.
“We agreed that there was a mistake on the defense and state’s part,” Lamin told the court.
Charles said she would allow Ifonlaja-Randle to withdraw his Oct. 18 plea “in order to be fair and just to everyone,” adding the case would move toward a trial. She set a next hearing in the case for April 28.
Ifonlaja-Randle remains jailed in lieu of $2 million bail.
Charles apologized to Baker’s family, who she said “has been here on many, many hearings.”
Baker’s mother, Sade Whitmore, said in an interview outside the courtroom she is OK with a possible trial in the months ahead. She said she never wanted a plea deal for Ifonlaja-Randle “especially if (his defense attorney) was going to argue on the lower end” of a prison term.
Whitmore said her son was a graduate of Simley High School in Inver Grove Heights and not a member of a gang.
Gun recovered
According to the criminal complaint, officers were sent to Raspberry Island, the Mississippi River park across from downtown St. Paul, about 9:10 p.m. and found Baker shot in the back seat of a vehicle. He died from three gunshot injuries.
Witnesses said four to five males approached Baker, who was in a Chevrolet Suburban. One told Baker to shut off a rap song, which was by a local rap artist affiliated with East Side gangs, the complaint says.
Romello Markell Ifonlaja-Randle (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Baker asked the man, who police later identified as Ifonlaja-Randle, if he was from the West Side and he replied, “the dub.” After Baker didn’t turn off the music, Ifonlaja-Randle hit Baker twice in the face and then shot him when he tried to get out of the Suburban, the complaint alleges.
Two days later, officers were sent back to Raspberry Island to collect a handgun lying on rocks on the south side of the bridge that connects Raspberry Island to Harriet Island Boulevard. A test firing of the gun connected it to a casing found at the murder scene.
A Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension analysis found Ifonlaja‐Randle’s DNA on the gun’s laser/light attachment and Baker’s DNA on the gun’s muzzle area, according to the complaint. Investigators analyzed phone records for Ifonlaja‐Randle and found he was in the Raspberry Island area at the time Baker was killed.
Police said Ifonlaja‐Randle meets criteria to be considered a member of the Shoota Boy gang, which is associated with St. Paul’s West Side.
Ifonlaja‐Randle has three prior felony convictions as an adult — two first-degree aggravated robberies and fourth-degree assault — and each make him ineligible to possess firearms.
He also has three other open 2023 criminal cases: gross misdemeanor domestic assault in Washington County; first-degree sale of drugs and illegal possession of a firearm in Hennepin County; and two counts of illegal possession of a firearm in Ramsey County.
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