A 21-year-old man was sentenced Wednesday to more than 25 years in prison for fatally stabbing a 19-year-old man during a robbery in South St. Paul.
Daniel Anthony Cruz Hernandez of Roseville was convicted in Dakota County District Court in December of second-degree murder and first-degree aiding and abetting aggravated robbery in connection with the death of Jordan David Paredes, of Oakdale.
Paredes was the father of two children and engaged to be married.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Hernandez will serve the first 16½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to an apartment complex about 3:15 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2017. They arrived to find Paredes on the ground and stabbed several times. He died soon after at a hospital.
Witnesses told police that three people had been attacking and robbing two others. Hernandez and the others fled in a car. Investigators found the car six days later, and Paredes' blood was found inside.
On March 28, almost eight months after the stabbing, a witness told law enforcement that Hernandez said he stabbed Paredes and threw the knife away.
