St. Cloud man sentenced to 40 years for stabbing death at Red Carpet

A St. Cloud man was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the December 2019 death of a man at Red Carpet Nightclub in downtown St. Cloud.

A jury found Bryant J. Stephenson, 29, guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder in September.

On Monday, a Stearns County judge sentenced Stephenson to the maximum sentence of 40 years imprisonment following the state's request for an aggravated sentence based on the jury's finding Stephenson committed the crime as part of a group.

Stephenson is the third defendant sentenced for the stabbing death of 29-year-old Unity McGill.

Christopher L. Johnson of St. Cloud was sentenced to 40 years in prison in June; his brother, Lawrence M. Johnson of St. Cloud, was sentenced to more than 34 years in March.

According to court documents, the three men assaulted an unidentified man inside the nightclub on Dec. 29, 2019, after which McGill touched Lawrence Johnson on the shoulder, prompting an exchange of blows.

Bouncers removed the three defendants from the bar but they came back a short time later and attacked McGill on the dance floor. An autopsy found McGill sustained blows to the head and multiple stab wounds in his chest, abdomen and back.