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Second trial in murder of St. Paul man goes to jury
Many people are on verdict watch as the second suspect charged in Alex Becker’s murder heads into jury deliberations.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The second trial connected to the St. Paul murder of Alex Becker is now in the hands of a Ramsey County jury. Becker was killed last year, two days after Christmas, while walking home from a late-night work shift in the city’s North End.
Authorities have alleged three men attempted to rob and then killed Becker in a dark alley behind his family’s home, just steps from his mother’s door. She heard the gunfire that killed her son, and saw two suspects running from the scene.
Prosecutors initially charged Shaun Travis, Detwan Allen, and Arteze Kinerd with Becker’s murder, arguing all three men were in the alley, working in concert when Becker was killed. But the first trial for Travis ended in an acquittal when District Court Judge JaPaul Harris found Travis not guilty following a bench trial that he presided over.
Allen is the second defendant to go on trial. His case is being heard by a jury.
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The state alleges Allen was the get-away driver and an active participant in the deadly conspiracy to rob and subsequently kill Becker. Allen is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, either aiding and abetting or being aided and abetted. Prosecutor Saraswati Singh told the jury during her closing argument that the state does not need to prove who fired the rounds that killed Becker, only that Allen worked along with the two others to kill Becker.
Allen’s defense attorney, Jeremy Plesha, is challenging the circumstantial evidence, pointing the finger at Kinerd, the third defendant, claiming Allen had no idea there were any intentions to kill Becker. The state has called what happened to Becker a "heinous and intentional murder."
Prosecutors have alleged surveillance video and other evidence put the three charged defendants in that alley when a burst of eight shots can be heard on neighborhood surveillance video. Becker was struck six times and was pronounced dead at the scene just after midnight on Dec. 28.
The jury in Allen’s case received the case Monday just before wrapping up for the day at 5 p.m. Deliberations are expected to begin on Tuesday at 9 a.m.