Man receives prison sentence for role in SpringHill Suites robbery, murder case

Emily Baude KSTP

Mugshot for Leneil Colbert Credit: Ramsey County Sheriff's Office

A man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for charges connected with a fatal shooting during a 2021 robbery in St. Paul.

Leneil James Colbert Jr., 33, will serve his sentence for the lone charge of second-degree unintentional murder in the death of Alexander Christoff at the St. Cloud prison.

Christoff was shot and killed at a parking structure in St. Paul on the evening of Aug. 28, 2021.

In all, five people were charged in connection with Christoff’s death – Danell Christner, Tarrance Hardie, Franklin Spriggs and Anthony Pryor were also charged, and have all been sentenced for their roles. Colbert was the final suspect to be sentenced.

Pryor was ordered to serve 10 years and eight months in state prison; however, he is getting credit for more than 15 months he has already spent in jail during court proceedings. Hardie was sentenced in July to just over 14 years in prison for one count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder.

Meanwhile, Spriggs was sentenced in June of 2022 to more than 20 years behind bars for aiding and abetting second-degree murder while committing a felony. Danell Christner was sentenced in December of 2022 to four years in prison for aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery. The judge credited Christner with 406 days previously served.