Man convicted of murder outside St. Paul bar

Own rap lyrics help convict a St. Paul killer, who prosecutor said was trying to steal diamond medallion.

By Pat Pheifer, Star Tribune

Last update: September 26, 2007 - 10:25 PM

The defendant sat silent and emotionless, but the victim's friends and family wept openly as six guilty verdicts were read Wednesday afternoon in a St. Paul courtroom.

Jarvis G. Atkinson, 25, was convicted of six counts of murder and attempted murder in the Jan. 20 shooting death of Gary Sligh, 21, and the wounding of Emmanuel Paye, 25, outside the Starting Gate bar in St. Paul.

Ramsey County District Judge David Higgs set sentencing for Oct. 25.

"I'm happy with the verdict, but it doesn't bring my son back," Sligh's father, Gary Williams, said afterward.

Sligh was killed simply because Atkinson coveted his diamond-studded medallion, prosecutor David Hunt told the jury during closing arguments Tuesday.

"This case is about a botched robbery and a brutal murder," Hunt said.

Sligh, 21, and Paye, 25, were playing pool on that Friday night to celebrate Sligh's promotion and pay raise as a garbage hauler. They left the bar but were blocked by another car as they tried to drive out of the parking lot.

Atkinson walked up to Sligh's car and fired four shots as Sligh, the driver, and Paye scrambled to escape through the passenger door, Hunt said. One bullet bounced around inside Sligh's body, while another hit Paye in the thigh. Sligh ran, stumbled and finally collapsed facedown on the pavement of W. 7th Street.

Then Atkinson calmly drove a woman sitting in his passenger seat home. James Jordan, that woman's boyfriend and Atkinson's friend, who was with him at the bar that night, went to police and identified Atkinson as the shooter.

Defense attorney Barbara Deneen tried to convince the jury of six men and six women that it was a case of mistaken identity. Paye told police that the killer had braids and a tattoo of words on his neck. Atkinson has neither.

Paye may have been mistaken about those details, but he immediately picked Atkinson's picture out of a photo lineup and started sobbing uncontrollably, Hunt said .

Hunt added that Atkinson's own words identified him as the murderer. He had written rap lyrics while in jail that contained the lines, "Don't nothing come to a snitch but bad luck. ... Where I come from if you see something you keep your mouth shut."

Pat Pheifer • 651-298-1551

Pat Pheifer • ppheifer@startribune.com

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