A St. Paul man was sentenced to nearly two decades in prison for killing a Maplewood father during a robbery gone wrong in the fall of 2015.
Brandon Lamar Cooper, 30, was sentenced Monday in Ramsey County District Court to 19½ years in prison on one count of unintentional second-degree murder in the death of Justin Niles Wright.
Cooper pleaded guilty to the charge in late January and was sentenced according to an agreement reached between his attorney and prosecutors.
Cooper’s attorney, Sophia Wolner, declined to comment after the Monday hearing.
Cooper was charged with two counts of second-degree unintentional murder and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm after police found Wright dead on his living room floor shortly before 5 a.m. Nov. 7, 2015. His girlfriend, who was also at home at the time of his murder, called 911 to report the shooting.
Two others also were charged in the incident: Bradley James Cook, 36, and Ernest Donald Atchison Jr., 33.
The three devised a plan to burglarize the couple’s home at 2272 Hazel St. after Atchison told them Wright had about 50 pounds of marijuana stored inside the home.
According to the criminal complaint filed in the case, Wright’s girlfriend told officers she and Wright had been asleep when she woke to a strange voice just outside the bedroom saying, “Tell me where it’s at.”
Wright also was in the hallway, she said, and she saw him lunge toward a dark figure. Then she heard a single gunshot and saw Wright stagger through the house, eventually collapsing in the living room.
Wright’s two children were away at a sleepover at the time. His girlfriend was not injured.
The woman admitted to police that she and Wright sold marijuana from the house and that some of her customers knew they kept “significant amounts of marijuana” there, the complaint said.
Cook pleaded guilty in July to first-degree burglary after reaching a deal with prosecutors.
He previously faced charges of aiding and abetting murder for his role in the shooting. The less-egregious conviction came in exchange for Cook testifying against his accomplices.
During his plea hearing, he said Cooper had admitted to shooting Wright after Wright unexpectedly confronted him while the men were burglarizing his home.
Atchison also took a plea deal. Previously charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and two counts of burglary, he pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree burglary this past August.
Both men are expected to be sentenced in early March.
Police also found signs of forced entry into Wright’s garage and a 9 mm shell casing in the bedroom hallway. Later that day, they found a Smith & Wesson 9 mm handgun two blocks away. DNA from the handgun reportedly matched DNA on file for Cooper.
An informant told police that Cooper was part of a burglary ring that targeted known marijuana dealers.
Cooper has previous felony convictions for theft, robbery and assault.
Wright bled to death after the bullet struck his left carotid artery, according to the Ramsey County medical examiner’s office.