Philander Jenkins proclaimed his innocence for the first time Wednesday, just moments before Hennepin County District Judge Thor Anderson sentenced him to two consecutive life terms in prison.
Killer gets consecutive life terms in double Minneapolis murder
Two men were shot at a north Minneapolis crack house last year; judge not swayed by proclamation of innocence.
Anderson assured Jenkins, 25, that nothing he said would have any bearing on his request for a new trial. "What would you like me to know?" Anderson asked.
Jenkins turned to the audience and addressed the "families and friends" of Lorenzo Porter, 35, of Champlin, and Eugene "Sweets" Curry, 34, of Minneapolis.
"I ain't killed your brother and I ain't killed Sweets," Jenkins said calmly. "I been knowing them for a long time. When I was out, that's who I hung with."
Jenkins was expected to get life without parole for the killings at the crack house on 29th and Dupont Avenues N. The main question was whether Anderson would give him sentences to be served at the same time or one after the other. Anderson said he chose the latter because of the two killings.
"I'm sorry that it happened, but I'm not the one who did it," Jenkins said. He appeared in court wearing leg shackles -- a restraint used in rare cases on troublesome inmates.
In a court session that stretched most of the day, Jenkins' lawyers, Jill Clark and Jill Waite, argued for a new trial, saying several jurors were on the verge of acquitting Jenkins and new evidence might have tipped them in that direction. At one point, Clark accused a Minneapolis homicide detective of being less than forthcoming with evidence that would have helped Jenkins.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Judy Johnston denied the allegation and argued against a new trial. Anderson did not immediately rule on the request.
During a weeks-long trial, prosecutors Johnston and Julie Allyn said Jenkins arrived at the crack house with two drug-dealing friends on March 14, 2007, 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.
In 2004, robbery charges against Jenkins were dismissed, and last summer he won a $110,000 settlement in a police brutality suit he filed against the city in 2005.
Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747
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