Man gets 10-year sentence for role in 2021 shooting
Letterance Demont Grady (Credit: Hennepin County Jail)
A man who entered guilty pleas to two charges late last year in connection to a role in a shooting that left a 12-year-old boy dead in 2021 has been sentenced.
On Monday afternoon, Judge Carolina Lamas sentenced 42-year-old Letterance Demont Grady to 124 months — or just over 10 years — for aiding an offender. He will get more than two years of credit — 824 days — for time previously served.
As 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS reported in November, Grady had pleaded guilty to the two charges in November, and a deal called for a sentence of just over 10 years in prison.
Grady was charged with two counts of second-degree murder with intent with the statute of liability for crimes of another — both intentional and reasonably foreseeable — and one count of felony aiding an offender to avoid arrest by harboring or concealing in November 2021.
RELATED: Father of young adult who allegedly shot 12-year-old in September charged with murder
However, those charges were dismissed in April 2023 because the lead attorney from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office was unavailable for trial and the court was unwilling to reschedule the trial.
Prosecutors refiled charges against Grady a day later, which included four counts of second-degree murder and two counts of aiding an offender.
RELATED: Charges refiled against father accused of playing role in 2021 Minneapolis shooting
Court records show an amended complaint was filed on Dec. 6, which added a count of aiding and abetting second-degree assault.
Last August, Grady’s son, Jeremiah Marquise Grady, was sentenced to just over 30 years in prison for the murder of 12-year-old London Bean in north Minneapolis. Jeremiah pleaded guilty to the charges last May.
RELATED: Man sentenced to 30 years for Minneapolis shooting that killed 12-year-old London Bean
RELATED: Man pleads guilty to fatal shooting of 12-year-old boy and firing at bystanders
According to court documents, Letterance is not accused of actually pulling the trigger but prosecutors say he’s still partly responsible for Bean’s death.
As previously reported, on Sept. 8, 2021, there was a physical fight between Bean and Jeremiah Grady’s younger brother before the shooting.
Police say Jeremiah Grady was arrested and charged after he approached from the back of the property, wearing a mask and all black, and began shooting, hitting Bean twice.
Soon after, Letterance Grady denied he was there at the time of the shooting. However, surveillance video showed him driving his son to and from the scene.
During police interviews, Jeremiah Grady told police his father encouraged him to retaliate and told him to shoot from the car.