Teen gets 25-year prison sentence for role in St. Paul stabbing death

A 17-year-old has received a murder sentence of more than 25 years for his role in the fatal stabbing of a young man on a St. Paul street.

Jeremy Joe Davila, 17, of St. Paul was sentenced on Jan. 23 in Ramsey County District Court after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder in connection with the March 31 attack on Jay’Mier Keymari Givens, 19, in the 1400 block of E. 6th Street.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Davila is expected to serve about 15½ years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

On April 7, a 14-year-old boy was arrested on allegations that he participated in the stabbing that killed Givens, of St. Paul. While state law prevents the release of other details about the younger teen or the specific allegations against him, the charging document against Davila identified a 14-year-old boy with the initials J.C. as his lone alleged accomplice. The two lived at the same home about three blocks from where Givens was killed.

According to the charges against Davila, who turned 17 on the day of the killing:

A 911 caller prompted Fire Department medics to head to the scene, where they found Givens on his back on the sidewalk outside a home near Harding High School at 11:25 p.m. He died 30 minutes later at Regions Hospital.

A county medical examiner’s autopsy found that Givens was stabbed 22 times, including 18 times in the back.

Police searched the teens’ home on April 8 and saw spots of blood on a hallway wall and in the kitchen. They also found two knives, one bent, hidden in the basement rafters.

J.C. was arrested at his school. He said he and Davila met up with Givens on the day he was killed and later heard that he had died, but he denied involvement. He was released April 11 without being charged.

Police learned from J.C.’s girlfriend that he was upset because Givens threatened to kill her 18-month-old son.

On April 29, J.C.’s mother told police her son confessed to being involved in Givens’ death.

Davila was arrested on April 30. He acknowledged that he and J.C. met with Givens, but he said he did not know anything about the knives and clothing found in the basement rafters of his home.

Once police put J.C.’s biological mother on the phone with him, he admitted writing the incriminating passages.