Benjamin Ashford|Man acquitted of killing three in Minnesota is convicted in unrelated kidnapping, shooting

ST. PAUL,Benjamin Ashford Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota man acquitted of killing three people in a 2022 shooting could be heading to prison anyway after being found guilty of kidnapping and shooting a man in St. Paul.

Jurors on Tuesday convicted Antonio Wright after about four hours of deliberation, the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported. Wright, 42, of Minneapolis, faces sentencing Jan. 29.

The 37-year-old victim was found by police on the front porch of a home with four gunshot wounds on Sept. 2, 2022. Prosecutors said Wright shot the man out of fear that he was going to talk to police after hearing Wright discuss a 2017 killing.

A message left Thursday with Wright’s lawyer wasn’t immediately returned.

Two days after the shooting on Sept. 2, 2022, five people were shot in St. Paul. Three of the victims died. Prosecutors charged Wright with second-degree murder and attempted murder.

Wright, who had eight prior felony convictions, was arrested Sept. 7, 2022, in Chicago, and charged in connection with the shootings on Sept. 2 and Sept. 4, 2022.

Wright waived his right to a jury in the triple homicide case. At trial in September, his attorney, Joe Friedberg, argued in his written closing that Wright had a “proven” alibi: He was in Chicago at the time.

Ramsey County Judge Kelly Olmstead found Wright not guilty on all charges. “There’s insufficient evidence to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is the person who committed these heinous crimes,” Olmstead said.