The Minnesota Supreme Court has affirmed the first-degree murder conviction of Otha E. Townsend, 40, who was sent to prison for the 1992 death of Candis M. Koch in St. Paul. It was the fifth time Townsend had asked the court to review his case.
Townsend, formerly of Illinois, was on the lam for nearly a year before he was arrested in Texas and returned to Minnesota to stand trial for the murder of Koch and the attempted murder of her friend and next-door neighbor, Lisa M. Johnson. He was convicted in 1994.
Koch, the mother of a 4-year-old girl, was shot once in the back of the head and four times in the face at an unknown location on Oct. 31, 1992. Her body was dumped in the 1000 block of St. Paul Avenue. Johnson was shot twice in the face in her East Side living room. She survived.
Police said drug-related robberies motivated the shootings. Townsend was sentenced to life in prison. He will be eligible for release no sooner than 2023.
PAT PHEIFER
