Minneapolis man pleads guilty to murder charge stemming from assault, robbery incident
A man who posted a video to social media of himself beating a victim who later died from his injuries has pleaded guilty to a murder charge filed against him.
Court records show 19-year-old Emmanuel Davis will be sentenced the morning of July 1 after pleading guilty to second-degree murder earlier this month.
As previously reported, Davis was charged in connection with a March 6 assault and robbery in a Minneapolis apartment that resulted in the victim dying on March 29.
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According to a criminal complaint, officers found the victim unconscious just after 10 p.m. in an apartment building on the 1300 block of Nicollet Avenue after a family member alerted police that she had received a “disturbing” video of her family member being attacked.
The video is shot from a third-person view and shows a man, who multiple people identified to police as Davis, stomping and kicking on the victim’s head before gripping him by the throat and taking his cellphone from his pocket. The video appears to be recorded by a female, who is heard laughing and saying, “Damn,” in the background.
Prosecutors say this video was posted to Facebook from the victim’s phone. In a post-Miranda statement, Davis told investigators he sent videos and messages to people from the victim’s phone as well.
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Davis also said he had hired his girlfriend, a juvenile female, to “lure” the victim to the apartment and that he planned to beat the victim up. Surveillance video from the apartment shows the victim entering the apartment building with a female about 50 minutes before first responders arrived.
The complaint states prosecutors are seeking an upward sentencing departure “due to the particular cruelty shown to [the] Victim and his family.”