Man gets prison sentence for kidnapping, attempted murder charges

A man convicted by a jury last month for a Sept. 2022 incident will be spending time behind bars.

According to court records, 42-year-old Antonio Dupree Wright was sentenced Monday for one count of kidnapping and one count of attempted second-degree murder. Although a third charge – a second kidnapping count – was read in and accepted, Wright did not get a sentence for that charge.

Judge Kelly Olmstead agreed to sentences for each charge to be consecutive, bringing Wright’s total time at the St. Cloud prison to 314 months, or just over 26 years. He will also get credit for the 488 days already served.

RELATED: 42-year-old convicted of kidnapping, attempted murder charges

St. Paul police were called to a Wilson Avenue home on the night of Sept. 2, 2022, for a report of a man who had been shot multiple times in the back and shoulder. A criminal complaint goes on to say the victim told officers he had overheard a man later identified as Wright and two other men discussing a 2017 murder, court documents state. One of the men with Wright said the victim couldn’t be trusted, so the victim left.

Wright later met up with the victim and asked if he had said anything about the murder, and the victim said he hadn’t.

Later, the victim was on York Avenue South and a woman asked him to come outside. He went outside and Wright came out of the shadows and asked the victim to get into his van. The victim told police that Wright had his hand in a pocket, and he thought Wright was going to kill him.

According to court documents, Wright got into the backseat and the victim got into the passenger seat. Wright held a gun to the victim’s head and told him, “It’s over,” as the victim pleaded for his life. The driver told Wright not to shoot the victim in the van.

Wright directed the driver to an alley near Earl Street and Hudson Road. When the van got to Earl Street and Wilson Avenue, the victim got out of the van and tried to run away. Wright shot at the victim five times, court documents state.

Wright had also been charged in connection with a triple homicide in St. Paul in 2022 but was acquitted of those charges, according to court records.