A jury on Tuesday found a St. Paul man guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder in the death of 22-year-old Alex Becker, who was shot six times in an alley behind his North End home after walking home from work last December.

Jurors deliberated for about four hours Tuesday before convicting Detwan Cortell Allen in the death of Becker, who prosecutors argued was ambushed Dec. 27 in an apparent robbery by Allen and two accomplices.

Detwan Cortell Allen (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Jurors acquitted Allen, 19, of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder-while committing a felony, a charge that was added Monday over the objection of prosecutors.

Ramsey County District Judge Paul Yang set Allen’s sentencing for April 26. He also agreed to consider the prosecution’s motion in support of an aggravated sentence.

Arteze Owen Kinerd, 21, of Minneapolis, also faces an aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder charge in Becker’s slaying. He has pleaded not guilty and a jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 26.

Earlier this month, Ramsey County District Judge JaPaul Harris acquitted Shaun Lamar Travis, 26, of the same murder charge. Travis waived his right to a jury trial and a bench trial was held instead. Harris concluded there wasn’t a dispute about Travis being present, but said the prosecution didn’t prove all of the elements of an intentional murder charge to find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Saraswati Singh reminded jurors during Monday’s closing arguments that the prosecution wasn’t “taking a position about who or how many people shot” Becker because the charge doesn’t require proving who shot the gun.

After Travis’ Dec. 8 acquittal, Becker’s mother, Tara Becker, wrote on her Facebook page that she was “disappointed” in the judge’s decision. On Tuesday, following Allen’s guilty verdict, she wrote one sentence in a post: “He was found guilty.”

Video surveillance shows suspects

Becker was walking home late Dec. 27 from his first shift back to work at Goodin Company after a Christmas break. After clocking out at 11:15 p.m. from the Como Avenue heating and plumbing parts company, where his dad works, Becker began his walk home in the snow-covered streets. He had been saving up for a car, his mother testified at Allen’s trial.

The first police officers arrived just after 12 a.m. Dec. 28 and found Becker lying on the ground, not breathing and with no pulse. His body was still warm. Medics arrived and pronounced him dead.

Investigators found seven 9mm shell casings near Becker’s body. His cellphone and earbuds were found at the scene, according to court documents. Items found on him included his wallet, which included a credit card and $68, and a work check for $500.

Surveillance video showed a Toyota Camry, which had been stolen the night before in Brooklyn Center, go past Becker as he was walking north on Kent Street near Hatch Avenue around 11:51 p.m. He turned into his alley between Lawson and Hatch avenues, and Allen, Kinerd and Travis ran down the alley after him, prosecutors said.

Another resident’s surveillance system then recorded four rapid gunshots followed by three rapid gunshots and a final gunshot.

At Monday’s closing arguments, Allen’s attorney, Jeremy Plesha, said the person seen on video wasn’t in the alley when the shooting happened, based on the timing of the shots.

Gun recovered in Minneapolis

Officers on Jan. 2 found the stolen Camry parked three blocks from Broadway Flats, which was Kinerd’s apartment building in North Minneapolis. It was the same apartment where a cellphone that was taken in a recent home invasion robbery in St. Paul pinged during an investigation, the charges said.

Investigators learned that Allen, Kinerd and Travis had left the apartment less than two hours before the shooting and that they wore the same distinct clothing as the men who followed Becker into the alley, the charges said. Surveillance video showed them returning to the apartment about a half-hour after the killing, and staying there for the night.

Police arrested Kinerd at a gas station near his apartment Jan. 3. A handgun was found hidden on a store shelf where he had ducked down after seeing officers. Forensic ballistic tests came back showing the gun was used in Becker’s killing, the charges said.

Later, in an interview with investigators, Kinerd was evasive when asked whether he was among the three men seen on video returning to his apartment shortly after the killing. He said it wasn’t him and didn’t know them. When asked where he was the night of the murder, he refused to answer.

Allen and Kinerd also face kidnapping and first-degree aggravated robbery charges related to a carjacking in the Merriam Park neighborhood less than three weeks before Becker’s murder.

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