HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016 05-05 Prison sentence for North St. Paul man who choked, robbed senior PIONEER PRESSPrison sentence for North St. Paul man
# choked,robbed senior
By ""'III"'°GIR'Y COGIlVlIl"Y I vcooney@pioneerpress.com
May 5, 2016
A North St. Paul man was sentenced to 10 -and -a -half years Thursday for the violent robbery of a 75 -year-old Maplewood
woman in January.
Ramsey County District Judge Jennifer Frisch said the only reason she didn't impose a higher sentence on Deandre
Vershaun Wims, 25, were legal constraints imposed by his plea agreement.
"The terror that you imposed on this community is inexcusable," Frisch told Wims, calling the robbery and attack
"terrifying," "horrific," "inherently cruel," "selfish," "cowardly," and "inhumane."
Wims plead guilty in March to charges of first-degree aggravated robbery and kidnapping to facilitate felony or flight as
part of a plea agreement.
The agreement dismissed a second charge of aggravated robbery in the first degree and a charge of burglary in the first
degree.
Wims is one of three people taking plea agreements for the violent home invasion and robbery of a Maplewood senior
living at the Carefree Cottages retirement community Jan. 2.
According to court documents, a female accomplice from Minneapolis knocked on the victim's door and asked to use her
phone. When the elderly woman refused, Shanice Lacyra Harmon, 23, forced her inside at gunpoint and called Wims and
Kenwone Darrion Pruitt, 20, of Albert Lea, Minn.
The two men arrived, and, with Harmon, ripped the telephone cords out of the wall, tied the woman's hands behind her
back, forced her to lie on the floor, and ransacked her home. The group took her driver's license, Social Security card,
passport, credit cards, and jewelry.
Despite offering no resistance, the woman was choked by Wims using a piece of clothing, Harmon told police. When she
failed to loose consciousness, Pruitt put her into a choke hold.
After she passed out, Pruitt dropped the woman, hitting her head on a table. Harmon left the room because she was
"bothered by the victim's choking sounds as she struggled to breathe," court documents said.
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When announcing Wims' sentence, Frisch emphasized that the victim was vulnerable, innocent, and unsuspecting.
When Frisch offered Wims the chance to speak, he shook his head and then spoke quietly to her, saying, "It's
overwhelming" and "I'm sorry for what happened to her."
"What happened to her, or what you did?" Frisch interrupted him to ask.
"It's what you did," she continued, saying that Wims' statement was solely focused on himself and failed to
acknowledge his actions or their effect on an entire community.
Public defender Bruce Wenger argued that Wims accepted responsibility by pleading guilty to two of the charges, has
a relatively clean criminal history, and should accordingly have a lower sentence between seven years and seven
months and eight years and ten months.
Wims will serve his sentences for robbery and kidnapping consecutively, adding up to 10 and a half years. A sentence
of a year and a day for a parole violation will be served concurrently.
The possibility of restitution will remain open for 90 days.
Pruitt and Harmon also accepted plea agreements and will be sentenced May 12 and May 19, respectively.
The victim did not attend the Wims' sentencing. Frisch said the plea agreement spared her the additional stress and
trauma of testifying.
Wims' stepmother and another woman attended the sentencing. His stepmother did not want to be named, but she
said she was sorry for the victim.
"That's what you get when you don't show remorse," she said when asked about the sentence.
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