Dad forgives, but son's killer gets 23 years in prison

The judge urged Antonio Dale, who shot the victim at a Brooklyn Park bar, to find his potential while serving time.

By ABBY SIMONS, Star Tribune

Last update: October 30, 2009 - 9:10 PM

Romel Jones Sr. was succinct Friday as he addressed the judge at the sentencing of his eldest son's killer.

"I just came here to let the young man who sits here to my right know that I have forgiven him," Jones said of Antonio Rashaun Dale, who looked on silently.

"I just wish that all this really would go away, and we could let everyone begin to heal from it."

With that, Jones returned to his seat, extended an arm toward Dale with palm forward and said "God bless you."

In a subdued and quick hearing, Dale, 21, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for fatally shooting Romel Jones Jr., 19, in the face and shoulders on Sept. 24, 2008, following a fight at Blondie's Bar and Grill in Brooklyn Park.

Dale, also known as "Trouble," pleaded guilty in September to second-degree intentional murder for shooting Jones, also known as "Bullet," in the patio area of the bar. Two others were wounded.

According to criminal charges, Dale had come to the bar with a gun to retaliate against someone for the shooting of a friend a few weeks earlier in downtown Minneapolis. A fight broke out, and when Jones got involved in it, Dale shot him, the complaint said. Dale was arrested in Texas two months later.

At the sentencing, assistant Hennepin County attorney Susan Crumb said Dale had suggested that he'd acted in self-defense, but the investigation showed that Jones wasn't armed.

"We hope that at some point he will accept responsibility for what he did, to help Mr. Jones [Sr.] and his family heal, but he has yet to do that," Crumb said.

Defense attorney Michael Colich countered by bringing Dale before Judge Susan Burke.

"I want to apologize for what I did," Dale said quietly to the judge, adding that he did take responsibility for it.

"I think, in many ways, he is trying to come to terms with what he did," Colich said, adding that Dale is extremely bright and often challenged Colich on certain facets of the law.

"Inside this young man is some promise," Colich said. "I hope he finds it."

The judge acknowledged that Dale's apology went a long way and encouraged him to make the best of himself while serving his sentence.

Burke said, "276 months is a very long time, but you are a very young man, so there will be life after prison."

Afterward, Jarrett Henderson of Brooklyn Park remembered Jones less as a cousin than a great friend who everyone looked up to, who always lit up a room.

Henderson wore a T-shirt with a photograph of Jones mugging for the camera in a Minnesota Twins cap. Henderson said that he, unlike the victim's father, doesn't feel forgiving toward Dale.

"I am satisfied, because he could have gotten away," Henderson said. "But I would have liked for him to get life. He doesn't have a life now, but he will have one when he gets out of prison."

Abby Simons • 612-673-4921

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