Burnsville robbery earns man return trip to prison

Burnsville holdup came three month after release.

January 4, 2012 at 4:50AM

Willie A. Brown, 34, was sentenced Tuesday in Dakota County District Court for robbing a Burnsville home and pointing a gun at two people. Those crimes happened just three months after his release from prison, where he had served 12 years for his role in a 1995 double murder in Minneapolis.

Brown, of Brooklyn Park, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree aggravated robbery and second-degree assault and was sentenced by District Judge Michael Sovis to 15 years in prison. Brown will have to serve two-thirds of that time before he is eligible for release.

The conviction also constituted a parole violation for his earlier crime of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and could carry further consequences, authorities said.

According to the criminal complaint, Brown robbed a house in the 1400 block of E. McAndrews Road on April 1 and pointed a handgun at the homeowner. Brown fled in a sport-utility vehicle and crashed it into a home day-care center about a mile and a half away. When the center's owner emerged, Brown pointed the gun at him. Brown fled on foot and was found hiding behind another house a couple of blocks away.

Brown, who was 18, and Armel G. Green, who was 15, were convicted of second-degree murder in the September 1995 shooting deaths of Traymont R. Thompson, 15, and Kuwait J. Campbell, 14. The co-defendants said they mistook the victims for rival gang members. Green, who was the shooter and was tried as an adult, was sentenced to 29 years in prison.

PAT PHEIFER

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