Man gets life without parole in Grand Av. crime spree

The crowd inside a Ramsey County courtroom was silent Friday as the female victim addressed Gari Lamont Stewart, the man convicted of attempting to kill her boyfriend and then raping her repeatedly before kidnapping her during an hours-long ordeal in 2007.

The woman stood between prosecutors Dawn Bakst and Jill Gerber and took a moment to compose herself before she read a short victim-impact statement at Stewart's sentencing hearing. The judge gently reminded her that she didn't have to read it herself.

"I have to," she told him.

In a loud and clear voice, the woman told Stewart, "You're going to prison for life for taking my happiness ... .

I'm here to show you no one can take anything else from me. I'm here for those who have lost everything ... and are not able to come forward to face their attackers in person.

"You're welcome to remember my name forever," she said to Stewart. "... to remind you, you went too far. Because when I walk out of here, I will not remember your name, and I will be done with you forever."

Stewart, formerly of Robbinsdale, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole by District Judge M. Michael Monahan. He is believed to be the first rapist convicted by a jury to receive life without parole under changes made to Minnesota's dangerous sex offender law. The changes stemmed from the murder of college student Dru Sjodin in 2003.

A jury took less than four hours to convict Stewart, 28, on Feb. 17 of six felony counts of first- and second-degree attempted murder, rape, burglary, arson and kidnapping. Jurors also answered "yes" to 23 questions about the egregiousness of the crimes, which required Monahan to sentence Stewart to life without parole.

It was just a formality Friday when Monahan sentenced Stewart to an additional 26 1/2 years in prison for the attempted murder, arson, burglary and kidnapping charges.

When Stewart was asked by the judge before sentencing if he had anything to say, he answered simply, "No." Neither he nor any of his family members in the audience had any visible reaction to the sentence.

According to testimony, Stewart entered the woman's apartment at 686 Grand Av. about 4 a.m. June 15, 2007. He awoke the woman's boyfriend with a hand over his mouth and a knife to his throat. He tied the man's hands with a blow-dryer cord, wrapped him in a shower curtain and tried to stuff him under the bed. When the man fought back, Stewart stabbed him in the neck, chest and back.

With the boyfriend unconscious on the bed, Stewart twice raped the woman at knifepoint and forced her to shower with him and wash his body. He took her from the apartment and set it on fire. He forced her to take money from an ATM and rent him a car before she convinced him to set her free at a Minneapolis hospital.

Police tracked Stewart's movements by monitoring the ATM machines he used to try to get more money from the woman's bank account. He was arrested early the next morning at the Ramada Hotel in Bloomington, where he had used the woman's credit card to rent a room and signed her name on the hotel register.

Defense attorney John Riemer asked Judge Monahan on Friday to sentence Stewart according to state guidelines. He'd still face a mandatory 30 years in prison, Riemer said. But Monahan said life without parole was the mandatory, not discretionary, sentence.

Bakst, the prosecutor, said the St. Paul Fire Department has asked for $5,500 restitution for fighting the arson fire. Monahan left the amount of restitution open for 60 days and imposed a $5,000 fine for each of the six charges. The judge also noted that Stewart refused to sign predatory offender documents and refused to cooperate with a sex offender evaluation, which would allow him to undergo treatment in prison.