St. Paul homicide suspect convicted by jury of 2 charges, acquitted of 1 count

Court documents show a St. Paul murder suspect has been acquitted of one count of second-degree intentional homicide but convicted of one count of second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony, as well as illegal firearm possession.

According to court documents, jurors reached their verdict early Wednesday evening in the trial of 29-year-old Kenwan Deshawn Hunter.

Hunter was charged in the fatal shooting of 27-year-old Glenn Danen Smith of Minneapolis, which happened shortly after midnight on Aug. 16, 2021, near Lexington Avenue North and Larpenteur Avenue West.

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According to charging documents, witnesses told police that Smith, Hunter and another man had been drinking at a bar on Larpenteur Avenue West, near Lexington Parkway North. At some point, the group went outside and Smith and the other man fought a few times.

Smith’s friend, who came to pick him up, tried to intervene but wasn’t allowed to. Afterward, Smith got into his friend’s Buick and then yelled at Hunter to give him something, which a witness said was a gun. After Smith was given the gun, the Buick started backing up and gunshots were fired.

The complaint adds that Smith yelled he was hit and Smith’s friend saw Hunter standing toward the back of the parking lot.

Court documents state that officers found four 9 mm casings inside Buick and one outside it, as well as a trail of 12 .45-caliber casings by the southwest corner of the bar.

Hunter’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 23.