A man with an extensive criminal history was given a 20-year term Tuesday for opening fire from a car in St. Paul and killing an 18-year-old driver in an SUV.
Dennis J. Edmondson, 39, of St. Paul was sentenced in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the shooting of Lavonte D. Baymon-Love of St. Paul on Aug. 29, 2021, near E. 7th Street and Mounds Boulevard.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Edmondson can expect to serve roughly 12 years in prison and the balance of his term on supervised release.
Edmondson's criminal history in Minnesota also includes two convictions for terroristic threats and two for criminal sexual conduct. At the time of his apprehension, he was under state Department of Corrections supervision in connection with one of the criminal sexual conduct convictions.
According to prosecutors:
A witness reported seeing Baymon-Love's SUV come to a stop at 7th and Mounds Boulevard next to the car occupied by Edmondson. After gunshots, the SUV crashed. Five juveniles got out of the SUV screaming. A woman driving the car with Edmondson as a passenger fled onto westbound Interstate 94.
The woman with Edmondson told police the next day that she and the occupants of the SUV were at a gas station on Arcade Street earlier that night, but there was no trouble among anyone in either vehicle.
Moments later, she said, Edmondson saw the SUV and yelled to its occupants, "What … are you looking at?" she quoted him as saying.
