Man gets 20-year sentence for fatal 2022 North End stabbing

A man convicted of second-degree murder after fatally stabbing another man in St. Paul’s North End more than two and a half years ago will be spending nearly two decades in prison.

On Monday, Judge Stephen Smith sentenced Dwight David Ford, 49, to 20 years in prison for one count of second-degree unintentional murder in the death of 41-year-old Christopher S. Pryor of Minneapolis.

While Smith granted Ford 934 days of credit for time already served behind bars, he also ordered him to pay more than $7,000 in restitution.

A total of three other charges filed against Ford — second-degree intentional murder, soliciting a person to practice prostitution and engaging in the sex trafficking of a person — were all dismissed.

As reported by 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS in June of 2022, police were called to the intersection of Rice Street and Winnipeg Avenue West for an apparent assault. There, they found Pryor with serious wounds, and despite officers performing life-saving measures on him, he died at the scene.

A criminal complaint states Ford confessed to stabbing Pryor in an interview with investigators.

Ford said he and his girlfriend had an agreement that Pryor would receive sexual favors from the girlfriend in exchange for drugs and money. Pryor then accused them of stealing from him, and the argument ensued.

Ford said he grabbed a knife from the kitchen because his girlfriend looked scared. He then stabbed Pryor two or three times, according to the criminal complaint.