Jenkins convicted of double homicide

March 27, 2008 at 1:22AM

A Hennepin County District jury took less than a day of deliberations after four weeks of trial to convict Philander Jenkins of first-degree murder for killing two friends at a crack house last year.

Jenkins will be sentenced at 9 a.m. April 23 by retired District Judge Thor Anderson, who presided.

Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Judy Johnston asked for immediate sentencing. Jenkins nodded, but Anderson said he wanted to see a presentence investigation first.

After the verdict, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Julie Allyn turned to the victims' families and said, "Finally."

Johnston said, "What happened here was an execution. They were men he befriended. It was such a heartless crime. "

Jenkins, 24, is expected to get life without the possibility of parole for the killings at the house on 29th and Dupont Avenues N. Prosecutors said he shot his friends and fled with a cell phone and their money. Police arrested him within hours at his northeast Minneapolis boarding house and found a revolver, a victim's cell phone, blood and money in his room.

Prosecutors said Jenkins arrived at the house with two drug-dealing friends on March 14, 2007, but only he left. Lorenzo Porter, 35, of Champlin, was shot in the temple. Eugene Curry, 34, of Minneapolis, was shot in the face, chest and back of the head. The men's pants, money and Porter's cell phone were missing.

Police Sgt. Charlie Adams noticed the empty cell phone holster and got the number from Porter's brother. Police learned the phone had been used to call a cab at 4 a.m., well after the bodies were found.

Defense lawyers Jill Clark and Jill Waite raised the possibility that someone else in the drug house killed the men, but the jury didn't believe it.

Johnston praised the jurors for sitting through a tough trial. "They really were patient with a very long process," she said.

With the verdict, the law caught up with Jenkins, who got robbery charges against him dismissed in 2004 after a Minneapolis police officer who investigated the robberies testified that she had looked at other reports about Jenkins.

Last summer, Jenkins won a $110,000 settlement from a police brutality suit he filed against the city in 2005.

Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747

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about the writer

Rochelle Olson

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Rochelle Olson is a reporter on the politics and government team.

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