The man accused of shooting and killing a south Minneapolis man in a botched robbery was convicted Tuesday of second-degree unintentional murder. The Hennepin County attorney's office will ask for a nearly 20-year sentence for Anthony Foresta, 35.

Cinque Turner, 25, was also charged. His next court date is Aug. 22.

Frank K. Patterson, 48, was killed in his apartment in the 2800 block of Cedar Avenue in March 2013. Foresta and Turner were charged five months later.

According to charges, the men knocked on the door at 4:30 a.m. and claimed to live in the apartment downstairs, where water was leaking from above. A struggle ensued between Patterson and one of the suspects. Patterson's stepson intervened, firing an air rifle at the suspect. Charges say the teen then saw one of the men fire a single shot at Patterson before they fled. He was pronounced dead 40 minutes later.

Four months later, police interviewed a friend of Patterson's who occasionally bought heroin from him. Charges say she told investigators that two weeks before the killing, Foresta asked her whether Patterson kept a lot of money. About three hours before the break-in, she told police, Turner drove her to Patterson's apartment building so she could buy heroin for the group. Later that day, she said, Foresta confessed to her that he shot Patterson.

In a separate interview, Foresta's girlfriend said that Turner confessed to participating in a drug deal that went bad, and that he shot and killed Patterson.

DAVID CHANEN