Continued: Second suspect pleads guilty to killing Howard Porter

The jury had been selected. His trial was set to begin today.

Instead, Fredquinzo (Snake Eyes) King admitted that he helped kill former basketball star-turned-Ramsey County probation officer Howard Porter last year.

King, of St. Paul, confessed in Hennepin County District Court on Tuesday that he helped plan and fatally beat Porter, 58. Judge George McGunnigle accepted King's guilty plea of second-degree intentional murder and kidnapping.

King's admission is yet another closing step in a brutal murder that spanned two cities and has taken more than 18 months to bring Porter's killers to justice.

"For the Howard Porter family and many people in Minneapolis and St. Paul, we're glad this is over," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said at a news conference Tuesday. "Howard Porter had lived a mixed life and had many challenges, but had really made major contributions as a probation officer."

King will be sentenced at 9 a.m. on Oct. 13. He faces at least 45 years in prison.

"Most of [King's] productive years in his life will be over before he has even a possibility of seeing the light of day again," Freeman said.

King is the second man charged with killing Porter. Last week, co-defendant Rashad Raleigh was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

A third suspect, Tonya Y. Washington, also known as Tonya E. Johnson, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting aggravated robbery for luring Porter into her home to perform an unspecified sex act. Raleigh and King were waiting. She will be sentenced on Sept. 29.

Real breakthrough

Freeman said that Washington was the real breakthrough in the case and for also "understanding that she ought to plead guilty to aggravated robbery."

Porter, a former college basketball star, led Villanova to the 1971 NCAA championship game. He went on to play seven pro seasons, but his career was cut short by injuries and cocaine addiction. He came to Minnesota for treatment and was working as a probation officer when he died in May 2007.

Porter was found -- robbed and viscously beaten -- in a north Minneapolis alley. He never regained consciousness and died eight days later in a hospital.

His death shocked people in both cities, many of whom knew Porter through his work.

"Regardless of the life you're leading at the time, no one deserves to be murdered in the way that he was," Freeman said.

Terry Collins • 612-673-1790