Minneapolis gang rival gets 35 years in slaying

Ryan Daniel Jones-Adams told a judge Tuesday that he prays every day for the soul of Marvin Ray Maynard III, a 16-year-old gang rival whom Jones-Adams shot to death Jan. 17 in north Minneapolis.

Hennepin County District Judge Margaret Daly then determined where Jones-Adams, 17, will do that praying; she imposed a 35-year prison sentence.

The sentencing followed emotional statements in the packed courtroom by family members for both teens.

"I saw my baby lying in the street in the cold for five hours -- dead," said an emotional Linda Maynard, the victim's grandmother, referring to the period in which authorities processed the body for evidence.

She held up a large posterboard photo of the victim. "He was a legacy. He was my husband's legacy. I've lost my husband, and now I've lost my grandbaby."

The teens were on James Avenue between 26th and 27th Avenues N. just after noon when Jones-Adams and his friends shouted out "T Block" and "BTG," names of cliques in the Crips street gang. Maynard's group responded that they were "Tre-Tre," another Crips clique.

Jones-Adams removed his hat, an indication he wanted to fight. A witness saw Jones-Adams run toward Maynard, whose hands were in the air, and fire twice at him.

Several of Maynard's relatives cried through the hearing. Linda Maynard and others lamented that Maynard wouldn't have his own children and grandchildren. Some also expressed compassion.

Maynard's great-aunt Mary Howard said of Jones-Adams, "He's a child. Somewhere along the line, we're going to have to find forgiveness." But Bruce Hall, the victim's uncle, said he hoped Jones-Adams "gets everything that's coming to him in St. Cloud [prison] and every day of his life."

Defense lawyer Robert Paule objected to the comments, and Daly told Hall to speak to her, not the defendant. Hall said his nephew "may have made mistakes, but he was a good kid."

The sentence was especially long under the plea deal because of the brazenness of the shooting in daylight in a residential area, circumstances that put many others at risk.

Paule said the shooting was a "tragedy to everyone" and grew out of a "happenstance confrontation." He called his client a "nice young man who has a lot of potential."