A 25-year-old Minneapolis man was convicted this week of first-degree murder in a robbery attempt that terrorized three Minneapolis men who were hanging out in the victim's back yard.
Diamond Lee Griffin will be sentenced on Dec. 3 to life with parole, meaning he would be eligible for parole after serving 30 years in prison.
However, prosecutors will ask that he receive consecutive sentences on all three crimes. The jury also convicted him of first-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault. The trial took about two weeks and the verdict was returned Tuesday afternoon.
Francisco Benitz-Hernandez, 38, his brother and his brother-in-law were sitting in the back yard of Benitz-Hernandez's home at 3629 Columbus Av. S. just before 11 p.m. on July 8, 2013, when Griffin and Ryan Grant came around from the front of the house.
Griffin pointed a gun at the men and demanded their money and cellphones. When the men said they didn't have any, Griffin began shooting, killing Benitz-Hernandez and wounding his brother in the arm, according to the complaint.
Witnesses described two men running to a car and driving away. Police searched where the car had been parked and found an identification card. Investigators contacted the woman whose name was on the card, who had watched Griffin and Grant head to the area of the robbery. She heard a gunshot and the two men ran to the car and told her to drive away, the complaint said.
Grant pleaded guilty to three counts, including second-degree murder, and will be sentenced Nov. 17. The woman was not charged.
DAVID CHANEN
