Jan 27, 2025
A St. Paul man was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting the shooter in a 2019 killing outside a University Avenue bar. Thomas Lorenzo Claiborne, 46, entered the plea in Ramsey County District Court in the murder of 33-year-old Michael Gray of St. Paul at the now-closed Johnny Baby’s at University Avenue and Chatsworth Street on May 4, 2019. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors agreed not to seek more than the 339 days that Claiborne had served in custody; he’ll serve no additional jail time. Ramsey County prosecutors charged Claiborne with aiding and abetting murder in September 2023. In December, Claiborne’s attorney filed a duress defense motion with the court, claiming the shooter told Claiborne at gunpoint to drive away from the scene. The shooter, Devante Lattrele Jennings, 29, was charged with the killing in April 2023 while incarcerated on an earlier firearms conviction out of Ramsey County. A cigarette butt and fingerprints found in Claiborne’s Kia sedan linked Jennings to the murder. Thomas Lorenzo Claiborne and Devante Lattrele Jennings (Courtesy of the Ramsey County sheriff’s office and the Minnesota Department of Corrections) Jennings was sentenced to 15 years in prison in July after admitting that he leaned out of the front passenger window and shot Gray. At Claiborne’s plea hearing on Monday, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Elizabeth Lamin said Jennings told an investigator in a March 2023 interview at the Moose Lake prison that he told Claiborne to drive away while holding the murder weapon. “Mr. Jennings indicated one way or another he was going to leave,” Lamin told the court, adding that video surveillance from the bar’s parking lot shows a five-second delay from the shooting until Claiborne drives away. “Based on that, we do not have a good faith basis to continue with aiding and abetting murder.” Prosecutors added the aiding an offender charge to Claiborne’s case on Jan. 14. Under questioning from Lamin, Claiborne admitted that he lied to investigators when he said he was not driving the Kia and that he did not know the shooter. Surveillance footage outside Johnny Baby’s captured the shooting, according to prosecutors. Jennings, Claiborne and Wayne Rodrick Brown arrived at the bar in the Kia about 1:30 a.m. Brown got out of the car and walked into the bar, bumping into Gray on his way inside. Michael Gray was fatally shot in St. Paul in May 2019. (Mara H. Gottfried / Pioneer Press) Brown walked back out to the parking lot about 1:42 a.m. and remained there with Jennings and Claiborne until about 2 a.m., when the three men got into the Kia. Gray approached the car and appeared to speak with Jennings before backing away and walking toward the back of the car. Jennings then leaned out of the front passenger window and fired at Gray, who was struck in his head and arm. Gray died at the scene. Subsequent shooting Brown, 29, was killed four months later near the St. Paul Saloon by friends of Gray, according to prosecutors. Related Articles Crime & Public Safety | Charges: St. Paul man flees police in stolen car and crashes, killing girlfriend who was a passenger Crime & Public Safety | Former Washington County Sheriff’s Office deputy sues for alleged sexual harassment Crime & Public Safety | St. Paul man accused of helping son hide 4 bodies in Wisconsin cornfield sentenced to 16 years in prison Crime & Public Safety | Texas man gets 4 years in federal prison for carjacking at Inver Grove Heights strip club Crime & Public Safety | Costumed St. Paul robber sentenced to 3½ years in federal prison for gun crime, violating probation In November 2022, a grand jury indicted John Sheldon Pickens Jr. and Derwin Idell Moore on first-degree premeditated murder and other charges in Brown’s killing. Video surveillance footage from inside the St. Paul Saloon showed Pickens shaking hands with Brown, then immediately making a phone call to Moore and tipping him off of Brown’s whereabouts. Moore drove to the bar, walked up to Brown and shot him in the chest. Moore, 38, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in September 2023 after reaching a plea deal with the prosecution, agreeing to a nearly 34-year prison term. The sentence was handed down on Oct. 11, 2023. Pickens, 39, was sentenced to 16½ years in prison in September after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting an offender. ...read more read less
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