An Apple Valley man convicted of murder for setting up a Bloomington marijuana deal and then hitting and dragging the seller with his SUV while speeding off with the drug was sentenced to 12½ years in prison Tuesday.
A Hennepin County jury found Lamont Eugene Williams Jr., 22, guilty of second-degree unintentional murder last month in connection with the killing of 21-year-old Alexif Loeza Galvan near his home on Bloomington’s east side on March 6.
Alexif Loeza Galvan (Courtesy of GoFundMe)
Galvan’s family and then officers called to the scene found him on the ground near a snowbank, gasping for breath. He was rushed to Hennepin County Medical Center, where he soon died of blunt force trauma.
“I had to to watch my brother take his last breath,” sister Yamilet Loeza said Tuesday in her victim impact statement. “Nothing could have prepared me for the silence that came after.”
Galvan’s injuries included a brain bleed, skull fracture, broken collarbone, rib fractures and cuts and bruising on the lower back and elsewhere consistent with road rash.
“This was a horrible death, Your Honor,” Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Krista White told Judge Juan Hoyos, who presided over the trial. “You saw the photos. He was dragged down to the bone, his skull was crushed.”
Lamont Eugene Williams Jr. (Courtesy of the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office)
Williams claimed self-defense at trial, testifying that he sped away after Galvan assaulted him and “was completely taken off guard by (Galvan’s) actions,” his attorney Katherine Claffey and Robert Paule and wrote in a presentencing memo.
Claffey said at sentencing that Williams “has great remorse,” and no prior criminal convictions. She asked the judge to depart from state sentencing guidelines and give him probation or else a four-year prison term.
White said there was neither evidence nor trial testimony from the witness that Galvan was the first aggressor. She asked the judge for a 15-year prison term, the maximum that would have been allowed under state sentencing guidelines.
Williams had prior convictions as a juvenile, White said, adding “and had the opportunities to learn from his prior mistakes. This isn’t about helping Mr. Williams. He killed someone.”
‘I’m in this Jeep’
Police were called to the 8300 block of 11th Avenue about 8:45 p.m. on a report of the man lying in the street with broken bones and difficulty breathing.
One of Galvan’s family members told officers that Galvan had told him that “Monty,” who was later identified as Williams, had contacted him and that he agreed to sell marijuana to Williams, the criminal complaint said.
Galvan’s mother reported she was sitting on the couch when he told her he was going outside to sell something. About two minutes later, she heard yelling. She looked outside and saw him leaning into the passenger side of a small, dark-colored SUV. He appeared to be halfway in the vehicle.
She said she could see Galvan and someone inside the SUV pulling a backpack back and forth. As this was happening, the SUV accelerated and she shouted to her other children. They went outside and found Galvan lying in the street a few houses from their house.
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Williams was arrested the next day near his home; he’d been driving a grey Jeep Renegade registered to his mother. Inside the SUV was a backpack with a 9mm handgun, which was missing a serial number, and plastic bags of marijuana that totaled about 264 grams, or more than 9 ounces.
A search of Williams’ phone showed the two men exchanged messages through Facebook about Galvan selling him “smoke.” Galvan sent Williams his home address.
Williams wrote to Galvan at 8:31 p.m., “Here.” Four minutes later, Williams wrote, “I’m in this Jeep.” Location data of Williams’ cellphone showed it moved east from the area of Galvan’s home at 8:37 p.m. Six minutes later, Williams messaged him: “My fault gang I had to.”
At sentencing, prosecutor White mentioned the mea culpa message and told the court: “No, he did not have to. He made a choice, and that choice has cost someone their life.”
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