A 20-year-old Kansas City man received a 51-year prison term Friday for fatally shooting two men in the back of the head in north Minneapolis as part of a suspected drug-related hit.
Lavell J. Piggie was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court after pleading guilty to two counts of second-degree intentional murder in the Feb. 10, 2022, deaths of Case S. Ritzman, 30, of St. Paul and Malik T. Carr-Riggins, 23, of Minneapolis.
With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Piggie is expected to serve the first 32¾ years of his term in prison and the balance on supervised release.
In a court filing ahead of sentencing, Assistant County Attorney Joshua Larson argued for Piggie to receive a 51-year term for what he termed a double execution.
Piggie gave the men "no warning or explanation for his actions," Larson wrote. "Sitting behind the men in a vehicle, traveling the streets of north Minneapolis, [Piggie] shot each man four times with his .40-caliber handgun. Each died instantly. [He] hopped out of their moving car and ran away."
Shortly after the shooting, a court filing noted that investigators suspected a "high-level drug dealer ... set Carr-Riggins up to be killed by [Piggie]." Carr-Riggins was known to authorities as a North Side drug dealer, while Ritzman "was known ... as being a drug user."
In a statement after sentencing, County Attorney Mary Moriarty said: "Gun violence remains far too common in our communities. Yet again, we see in this case how the prevalence of guns can turn disputes violent, even among those who were apparently friends.
"As a community, this violence must spur us to action. We will continue to work with law enforcement to aggressively prosecute violence and hold accountable those who are responsible. But arrest and prosecution will never be enough. We must address the issues that make violence a viable decision for far too many people. We must seek to prevent violence before another life is lost or another family is shattered."
