Court confirms convictions in 2007 murder at St. Paul bar

Last update: November 5, 2009 - 9:19 PM

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the first-degree murder and attempted murder convictions of Jarvis J. Atkinson, who killed Gary Sligh and wounded Emmanuel Paye on Jan. 19, 2007, outside the Starting Gate bar in St. Paul.

The high court rejected Atkinson's arguments that the district court excluded "alternative perpetrator" evidence, admitted rap lyrics seized after his arrest, declined to order a mistrial after prosecution witnesses referred to the defendant's incarceration and after another witness indirectly referred to Atkinson's previous arrests.

Atkinson, 27, was sentenced in September 2007 to consecutive sentences of life with the possibility of parole for Sligh's death and 15 years for wounding Paye. The soonest Atkinson could be released is 2047.

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