A jury on Monday convicted a man of second-degree intentional murder for fatally shooting a local chef after a funeral reception for an 80-year-old woman in St. Paul in 2023. He was acquitted of killing his cousin, who was hit by ensuing gunfire.
Jurors also acquitted John Lee Edmondson, 54, of first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree intentional murder while committing a felony in connection with the death of chef Larry Jiles Jr., 34, outside a Frogtown senior-living apartment building on Feb. 23, 2023.
Edmondson was found not guilty of two second-degree murder charges in the killing of his cousin, Troy Kennedy, 37.
John Lee Edmondson (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
Three others were wounded in the gun battle, which followed an argument outside the senior complex at University Avenue and Dale Street. Police recovered 39 shell casings that were fired from five guns. Edmondson fired 10 shots.
Jurors deliberated for about nine hours over two days following nine days of witness testimony before Ramsey County District Judge Leonardo Castro.
Edmondson, of St. Louis Park, had claimed defense of others in Jiles’ killing and self-defense in the death of Kennedy, who was hit while running amid the gunfire.
Edmondson’s attorney, Ryan Pacyga, said he is “grateful” his client was acquitted of first-degree murder, which would have sent him to prison for life.
“Obviously, mission No. 1 is to beat first-degree, and I always felt like this was not premeditated,” Pacyga said. “It’s a victory, but it’s tough because there is one big family with two sides that are just hurting. And I hope they can all find a way to come together again.”
A dozen Ramsey County deputies were in the courtroom for the verdict as a deterrence to what broke out last week during the trial. After the prosecution delivered its closing arguments, several family members from both sides argued outside the courtroom before deputies broke it up.
Edmondson is scheduled to be sentenced June 11. Edmondson, who was convicted of aiding and abetting unintentional murder in 1994 at age 22, faces between about 23 and 32½ years in prison, based on Minnesota sentencing guidelines.
‘Almost a war zone’
Officers were sent to the shooting behind Frogtown Square Apartments about 5:15 p.m. Jiles was shot twice in the neck. An autopsy showed Kennedy had two “distant gunshot wounds” from a bullet or bullets that exited his body.
Witnesses told police that families had gathered in a community room at the senior complex for the death of Edna Scott. Jiles and Kennedy were relatives of the woman, and Jiles made most of the food for the gathering.
It was peaceful until it ended, witnesses said, when an argument broke out in the community room and spilled outside.
Video footage from the nearby Neighborhood Development Center showed it was six seconds from the time Edmondson got out of his car to the time people began running, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Hassan Tahir said Thursday in the state’s closing argument.
Tahir said the initial confrontation happened so quickly that Edmondson “could have made no actual determination of what was even going on before he fired those shots.”
Tahir added that “it became almost a war zone after that.”
Edmondson had testified at trial that he was driving his mother and niece in the parking lot when his mother spotted Jiles with a gun standing by a group.
Edmondson “made a beeline” to Jiles and tried to push down the gun as Jiles was raising it, Pacyga said in the defense’s closing argument Friday. Edmondson fired twice, hitting Jiles at close range.
Police tape and evidence markers at the scene of a double homicide in the parking lot of Frogtown Square at University Avenue and Dale Street in St. Paul on Feb. 25, 2023. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)
Pacyga, in making the claim of defense of others, told jurors, “When Larry is raising the gun, it’s completely reasonable to believe that in that fraction of a second other people are exposed to death or great bodily harm.”
The charges say a witness told police that Jiles was not carrying a gun when he was shot and it did not appear that he provoked an altercation. Pacyga pointed out to jurors that 11 months later, Jiles’ sister, Chanel Jiles, told police in a follow-up interview that he did have a gun on him. It was never recovered.
Pacyga said Edmondson acted in self-defense in Kennedy’s killing because of the ensuing gun battle. He said police recovered seven casings in an area where someone shot toward Edmondson and in the line of fire where Kennedy was running.
Mother seeking justice
Dennis Gerhardstein, Ramsey County Attorney’s Office spokesman, said two other cases were filed in connection with the gun battle, though one — against a teen — was later dismissed due to lack of evidence. A third case against a teen still under review.
DeMod Timothy McGruder, 21, of St. Paul, was charged with possession of a firearm by an ineligible person and sentenced to five years in prison in October.
Shirley Curry, Kennedy’s mother and Erlandson’s cousin, said after Monday’s verdict she is still looking for justice in his killing.
“I feel like someone should be charged,” she said, “because if John didn’t do it, who did it?”
Edmondson’s prior murder conviction stemmed from the 1993 killing of 19-year-old Dural Woods during an attempted robbery in St. Paul. Edmondson drove three men to Selby Avenue and Milton Street for a drug deal and one of them shot Woods, according to a newspaper report from the time.
Edmondson was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 18 years in prison, which was one-and-a-half times the state sentencing guidelines.
Edmondson stayed out of trouble after his release from prison and prior to Jiles’ killing. His criminal history shows petty traffic offenses during that time.
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