St. Paul man pleads guilty to murder charge stemming from 2021 shooting

A St. Paul man will be sentenced next year after pleading guilty to one of four charges filed against him following a fatal shooting last year.

Court records show a plea hearing for 38-year-old Dennis John Edmondson was held at 9 a.m.

Edmondson was initially charged with 3 counts of second degree-murder (with intent – not premeditated, drive-by shooting without intent) as well as one count of ineligible possession of a firearm or ammunition.

He had originally pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, but as part of the plea agreement, entered a guilty plea to the second-degree murder without intent charge during Tuesday’s hearing. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the other three charges as a result of the agreement.

A sentencing hearing is now scheduled for the afternoon of Feb. 7, 2023. According to the plea agreement document, Edmondson could serve anywhere between 180-240 months (15-20 years) in prison.

As previously reported, a criminal complaint states that around 8:40 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29, St. Paul police officers responded to an assault call that originally happened at the M&H gas station on the 700 block of Arcade Street. The caller told dispatch she was in the area of Seventh Street East and Maria Avenue. Officers were alerted about gunshots sounding in the area.

Police found a red Jeep off the roadway on Seventh Street East between Mounds Boulevard and Payne Avenue. Several juvenile males were seen running around the Jeep while yelling and screaming, according to the complaint. Officers found the victim, later identified as 18-year-old Lavonte Baymond Love, on the ground with a bullet wound to his neck. Authorities noted he was “barely breathing” at the time. Love was then taken to a nearby hospital, where he died.

Around the scene, police found five spent bullet casings.

Officers spoke with witnesses, who confirmed they saw Edmondson at the gas station with a woman and young child. Love and four others were occupying a red Jeep at the gas station. According to the complaint, surveillance video from the gas station showed Edmondson grab a handgun and tuck it in his waistband prior to leaving the area.

After the Jeep pulled away from the gas station, Edmondson, driving a black Taurus, followed the Jeep. Witness accounts from the people in the Jeep stated the car pulled up and began to fire at the vehicle, causing the Jeep to crash. All witness accounts stated Edmondson was the one shooting. Love was shot, according to the witnesses at the scene. Two women also stopped to help and claimed Edmondson pointed his gun at them.

Further investigation by police revealed the owner of the Taurus was in a relationship with Edmondson. It was also learned that Edmondson had a warrant for his arrest out of the Minnesota Department of Corrections and that he’s had four prior felony convictions, two terroristic threats and two convictions of third-degree criminal sexual conduct. These convictions make it so Edmondson cannot possess a firearm or ammunition, according to the complaint.

The owner of the Taurus was stopped and detained the next day. She claimed she and Edmondson’s 6-year-old child were at the gas station that night getting gas. According to the complaint, she claimed he never got into an altercation with the people in the Jeep prior to them leaving. She then claimed the Jeep was “driving crazy,” speeding past the Taurus and eventually driving back around to be beside the Taurus. She also told police Edmondson fired his weapon because he believed the people in the Jeep were going to shoot first.

After arresting Edmondson later that day, investigators failed to speak with him, as he was “agitated and rambled about Allah.” The interview was terminated because, according to the complaint, it did not seem as though it would be fruitful.

Previously, a jury trial had been scheduled to begin just after the New Year, on Jan. 3.