Jurors began deliberating Friday in the first-degree murder trial of John Lee Edmondson, who prosecutors say fatally shot his cousin and a local chef after a funeral reception in St. Paul in 2023.

Jurors left for the day without a verdict and will resume deliberations Monday morning at the Ramsey County Courthouse in St. Paul. They deliberated for about five hours after the defense delivered its closing argument. The prosecution made its closing Thursday.

Larry Jiles Jr., 34, and Edmondson’s cousin, Troy Robert Kennedy, 37, were shot outside a senior-living apartment building at University Avenue and Dale Street on Feb. 25, 2023, following a repast for an 80-year-old woman. Witnesses told police it was peaceful, until an argument broke out.

Larry Jiles Jr., left, and Troy Kennedy. (Courtesy of the family)

Jiles and Kennedy were relatives of the woman, and Jiles made most of the food for the gathering.

“By all accounts, Larry Jiles Jr. was doing some good things that day for the family,” Edmondson’s attorney, Ryan Pacyga, told jurors Friday. “That is commendable. But there are some things that just change everything, aren’t there?”

When Jiles “brought the gun out to the crowd,” Pacyga said, “that changed everything.”

Edmondson, 54, of St. Louis Park, is claiming defense of others in Jiles’ killing. He testified that he was driving his mother and niece in the parking lot when his mother spotted Jiles with a gun.

Edmondson “made a beeline” over to the group and tried to push down the gun as Jiles was raising it, Pacyga told jurors. He fired twice, hitting Jiles in the left and back sides of his neck.

Pacyga said there is no evidence the others who were standing beside Jiles and arguing were armed with guns.

John Lee Edmondson (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

“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,” Pacyga said.

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.

Edmondson had nothing to do with the argument, Pacyga said. He reminded jurors how they saw a video from inside the community room showing Edmondson and Jiles getting along, taking a selfie or watching a video on a cellphone.

“There’s nothing going on with John Edmondson where there’s a plot to kill,” Pacyga said.

Meanwhile, an autopsy showed Kennedy had two “distant gunshot wounds” — one to his left forearm and the other to his left hip that cut across an artery.

Pacyga said Edmondson acted in self-defense in Kennedy’s killing because of the ensuing gun battle. He noted how police recovered seven casings in an area where the shooter was firing back at Edmondson and where Kennedy was running.

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)

Police found 39 casings in the parking lot, 10 of which were fired from Edmondson’s gun.

“(Edmondson) is the first one to fire,” Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Hassan Tahir said in the state’s closing. “Then it became almost a war zone after that. But he’s the one that made a decision to pull that trigger not once, but twice. And many times thereafter.”

Video footage from the nearby Neighborhood Development Center showed how quickly things escalated, Tahir said.

“It was six seconds after (Edmondson) got out of the car and until people started running,” he said. “And the defendant, based on what he’s observed doing in this video, simply does not fit the criteria of defending others when he shot Larry Jiles Jr.”

Tahir said it happened so quickly that Edmondson “could have made no actual determination of what was even going on before he fired those shots.”

Edmondson shot Kennedy as he was firing back at others, Tahir said.

Prosecutors initially charged Edmondson with two counts of second-degree intentional murder and one count of second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony.

A grand jury in September indicted him on six counts: first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree premeditated murder, first-degree intentional murder while committing a felony, two counts of second-degree intentional murder, second-degree unintentional murder and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person.

Edmondson has a prior murder conviction.

On Oct. 5, 1993, he drove three men to Selby Avenue and Milton Street in St. Paul, and one of them fatally shot Dural Woods, 19, during an attempted robbery, according to a newspaper report from the time.

A jury in May 1994 convicted Edmondson of aiding and abetting second-degree murder. A judge sentenced him to 18 years in prison, which was one-and-a-half times the state sentencing guidelines.

Related Articles

Ex-Abercrombie CEO has dementia and is unfit for sex trafficking trial, prosecutors and defense say

Minnesota woman faces federal charges for assaulting flight crew member

Lakeville man is first ever convicted under new wage theft law in Minnesota

New York jury awards $1.68 billion to women who accused ‘Bugsy’ writer James Toback of sexual abuse

Supreme Court denies Karen Read’s request to halt her trial

A recording of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison’s meeting more than three years ago with a group including eventual defendants in the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud case has House Republicans renewing calls for transparency at the Attorney General’s office.

During a December 2021 meeting, a group of East African businesses that lost government funding amid suspicion of fraud flexed their political fundraising abilities and asked Ellison to help push back against state agencies standing in their way, audio that recently came to light shows.

The meeting came just a month before the FBI raided Feeding Our Future’s offices in January 2022.

The 54-minute recording is unused evidence from the trial of Aimee Bock, the alleged ringleader of the $250 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme, and was first published online this week by the conservative Minnesota think tank the Center of the American Experiment. But the recording was never presented at trial because no state government witnesses ended up testifying.

Aimee Bock, left, who founded and was executive director of the nonprofit Feeding Our Future, and her attorney Kenneth Udoibok enter the U.S. District Courthouse in Minneapolis before jury selection Feb. 3, 2025. (Ben Hovland / MPR News)

House Republicans and the think tank have suggested that Ellison’s telling the group he would check into their concerns with state officials conflicted with his duty to represent state government. They also point to later political contributions from an eventual defendant in the case to his campaign.

“The Attorney General must immediately release all public documents and correspondence related to his meetings and conversations with these individuals, and explain to the public why he felt it was necessary or appropriate to meet with them, let alone offer the support of his office,” said House Floor Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey.

Ellison’s office has claimed the attorney general himself was not aware of the ongoing dispute at the time, but that his office had been defending the state against Feeding Our Future in court.

Brian Evans, a spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office, said the recording showed Ellison acted appropriately during the meeting, despite “the Center for the American Experiment’s best efforts to smear Attorney General Ellison for partisan political reasons.”

“The Attorney General regularly meets with constituents, hears their concerns in good faith, and does his best to help people who need it, which is exactly what the recording of this meeting shows,” he said in a statement. “It is a shame that these fraudsters tried to exploit the Attorney General’s good faith engagement, but they were not successful.”

A little less than a month after the meeting, the FBI raided the offices of Feeding Our Future. Ellison’s office said it never acted on any of the group’s requests from the meeting and has said it has “no intention” of keeping funds contributed by someone tied to the meeting that was charged more than two years after the initial raid.

Federal authorities have charged 70 people in the case since September 2022. As of March, 37 had pleaded guilty, 7, including Bock, were convicted at trial, and two have been acquitted.

December 2021 meeting

In the recording, a group calling itself the Minnesota Minority Business Association pushes on Ellison to help them challenge state officials freezing reimbursements to meal sites, claiming agencies were discriminating against East Africans.

The Minnesota Department of Education attempted to freeze money going to rapidly growing meal sites that were reporting what officials saw as improbable levels of growth under looser rules during the pandemic.

However, in June 2021, a Ramsey County judge found the department in contempt and ordered it to continue providing Feeding Our Future reimbursements for meals — millions of which were never served, according to federal prosecutors.

Ellison spent much of the meeting asking the group questions about their issues, despite his office representing MDE against them.

“This is the first I’m really hearing about it,” Ellison said, telling the group his office has about 400 staff and that he doesn’t check on every single case they receive.

When someone on the recording mentions the Child and Adult Care Food Program, which provided the federal money the state was giving to Feeding Our Future, Ellison asked for an explanation.

“Wait a minute, what is that?”  Ellison asks.

At the meeting were soon-to-be federal fraud defendants in the Feeding Our Future case, including Selim Said, who was convicted at trial last month alongside alleged ringleader Bock and owned Safari Restaurant, one of the main meal sites in the case. Also present was Ikram Mohamed, who was indicted in February 2024.

Throughout the recorded conversation, the group repeatedly touted its potential for fundraising and offered financial support to Ellison’s campaign, though Ellison is never heard asking for contributions or engaging in discussion about taking money.

Less than two weeks after the meeting, Ellison received a $2,500 contribution from Gandi Mohamed, the brother of Ikram Mohamed, who was also charged last year, the Center of the American Experiment noted in its online article containing the audio.

Others present at the meeting also made contributions, though they haven’t been charged in the fraud case, according to the article.

Ellison’s office says it has returned contributions tied to other Feeding Our Future fraud defendants, and that his campaign has “has no intention of keeping the funds” from Gandi Mohamed, who was charged in February 2024.

In response to the group’s requests for help with challenging state agencies, Ellison first asked for information on which agencies and administrators were a problem for the group, and in which programs. He also asked for information on which meal provider nonprofits were struggling most so he could bring them to the attention of Education Department officials.

“I’ll call them in my office and demand some explanations,” he said.

Kenneth Udoibok, Bock’s defense attorney at the trial, said the reason they had considered using the recording as evidence during the trial was that it would help show that his client was “as surprised” as some state officials claimed they were by the fraud at Feeding Our Future.

But the recording was never presented at trial because no state government witnesses ended up testifying, Udoibok said.

Following the publication of the audio, House Republicans on Thursday attempted to reintroduce a bill they tried to pass earlier in the session which would open more investigative records at the Attorney General’s office — a move which they argue would boost transparency.

DFLers opposed that bill when it first came up in February, and it failed again in a tied party line vote as Republicans have 67 seats, requiring at least one member of the other party to join. House DFLers say they oppose the bill because it could reveal sensitive investigative data.

Related Articles

Proposed tax on social media platforms in Minnesota could raise over $300M

New MN office for missing, murdered Black women and girls aims to build awareness

MN House bill aims to assist families with child care costs

Push to release Sen. Nicole Mitchell arrest video gets new chance on appeal

St. Paul nonprofit pays $7.3M to turn Bandana Square hotel into emergency shelter

Anthony Edwards played with fire, and eventually got burnt.

The guard had numerous exchanges with officials in the first half of Friday’s tilt — and hung on the rim for numerous seconds after a dunk after he disagreed with a call and wasn’t “T’d” up — but finally the officials had enough, and gave Edwards a technical midway through the second quarter.

It’s especially significant because that’s Edwards’ 18th technical foul of the season. And, if it isn’t rescinded by the NBA, will result in another one-game suspension. That would mean Edwards would have to sit out Minnesota’s regular season finale on Sunday against Utah.

That’s a game the Wolves will likely need to win to secure a top-six seed in the Western Conference playoffs and dodge the play-in tournament.

Minnesota players and coaches pleaded with the officials immediately after the call was made, to no avail.

Minnesota figures to be able to beat the Jazz — who have every incentive to lose the game to maintain the best possible draft position — even without its star guard. Utah is sitting the majority of its notable, productive players down the stretch run of the season. But having Edwards on the floor would certainly give the Wolves’ a larger margin for error.

Edwards already missed a game after picking up his 16th technical foul in February. At that point, a player is suspended for another game for every two subsequent techs he receives. The count resets at the outset of the playoffs.

Related Articles

If the Wolves win out, who do they play? Every Western Conference playoff scenario (making a few assumptions)

Record-breaking third quarter propels Timberwolves big win in Memphis

Timberwolves must get off the mat, dust themselves off for game of the year

Timberwolves fall apart in fourth, blow 24-point lead in loss to Bucks

Jace Frederick: It’s time to learn about these Timberwolves

By NG HAN GUAN

YIWU, China (AP) — The trade war between the world’s two largest economies is escalating as China on Friday slapped a 125% tariff on U.S. goods in response to President Donald Trump’s 145% tariff on Chinese products.

Caught in the crosshairs are businesses that are part of the more than $582.4 billion trade between the countries, with Chinese exporters making up the bulk of that exchange.

Here’s what some of them had to say. Most of them spoke in the eastern city of Yiwu, known as home to the world’s largest wholesale market:

Jiang Jiayu, owner of Yiwu Jiayu Festive Supplies Co.

American customers would normally be placing their Christmas orders at this time of year, she said, but right now, there is no sign of them. U.S. customers make up about 10% of Jiang’s business. She said she didn’t understand the purpose of Trump’s tariffs.

“Can the U.S. produce what China, or Yiwu is producing now? Ordinary people are the ones who will get hurt the most by the tariffs,” she said. “I don’t think he can continue his behavior for long.”

But she said she would rather pull out of the market completely than pay the hefty U.S. tariffs.

“At worst, we just quit,” she said. “We will not lose money just to keep this market.”

Wu Liying, owner of Xinyue Socks Co.

Wu runs a shop selling socks of all hues, printed with cartoon characters, stripes or Christmas-themed ornaments. She said she is yet to feel the impact from the new levies, but knows it is only a matter of time before overseas trade becomes more complicated.

Related Articles

Freak sell-off of ‘safe haven’ US bonds raises fear that confidence in America is fading

Irish privacy watchdog investigates Elon Musk’s X’s use of personal data to train Grok AI chatbot

Potential impact of Trump’s trade war on jobs and inflation sends US consumer sentiment plunging

US wholesale inflation fell last month as price pressures eased, but trade war clouds outlook

4 best money apps for teaching kids financial literacy

“Our clients will have no profit to make, and neither will we,” she said. “We are all in the business to make money, but if nobody makes money, the purpose of win-win cooperation will no longer exist.”

Margaret Zhuang, an employee in a kitchen supplies factory

“The tariffs are so high that it is the same if adding another 200%,” said Margaret Zhuang, an employee who handles foreign sales at a factory for wooden kitchen supplies in Dongyang in southern Guangzhou province.

Zhuang said her American client asked the company to stop manufacturing on Monday, when Trump raised the tariffs to 125%, even after paying a 30% deposit for the order.

Comparing the trade war to Trump’s first presidency in 2018, Zhuang said things are much worse this time around, because China’s economy is in a slump. She’s worried that she and her 40 colleagues will have no income when work stops, and that she could lose her job.

Zhuang used to hope the U.S. and China would negotiate to “give each other a lifeline.”

“But now we all know, the U.S. just want to break it off,” she said.

Ding Dandan, Christmas decorations seller

An exporter of Christmas decorations, Ding Dandan believes U.S. customers will still buy from Yiwu, at least in the short term, because they have nowhere else to go.

“Do you know 90% of Christmas-related goods in the U.S. are from China?” said Ding, who often sells to the U.S. market via intermediaries in third countries such as Mexico.

“If China does not export them, the U.S. will not be able to import such large amount of goods from elsewhere, right?”

Associated Press journalists Wayne Zhang in Yiwu, China, Huizhong Wu in Bangkok and Fu Ting in Washington contributed to this report.