Star Tribune
Man gets 37½-year sentence for shooting that killed girl jumping on trampoline
The man behind a gang shooting that killed 9-year-old Trinity Ottoson-Smith in north Minneapolis was sentenced to 37½ years on Tuesday, more than two years after the tragic slaying of a child as she was jumping on a trampoline with friends.
D’Pree Shareef Robinson, 20, pleaded guilty in March right as his trial was set to begin, but three weeks ago he tried withdrawing that plea by claiming he was under the influence of pain pills when he waived his right to trial and agreed to a lengthy sentence for murder in connection to the shooting in the 2200 block of Ilion Avenue N. on May 15, 2021.
Hennepin County Judge Julie Allyn wasn’t persuaded by the argument then or on Tuesday when Robinson again tried to say he was not guilty and instead pressured into the plea with his previous attorney. Despite that, he added that he’s sorry, sad and heartbroken about Trinity’s death.
“I did not have nothing to do with this young girl’s death,” Robinson said. “Your honor, can you please give me a chance to take my plea back and give me a chance to fight my case?”
Allyn said she already had ruled the plea was knowingly and intelligently made.
“Now regretting what your sentence could be is not the same thing,” she said. The judge also allowed for a sentence longer than suggested by guidelines because the shooting was made in the presence of children.
“Shooting seven times into a group of children just jumping on a trampoline, just trying to have a normal day at a birthday party, does mean that your conduct was significantly more serious than an average shooting and does justify the additional time,” Allyn said.
Robinson’s sentencing was attended by scores of Trinity’s family and friends all wearing t-shirts memorializing her life and calling for justice. It was standing-room only.
Sobs echoed in the courtroom during victim impact statements from Trinity’s father and stepmother, Korrina Smith, who read letters from siblings and Trinity’s best friend Avayla, whose birthday Trinity was celebrating the day she was shot.
“I don’t have my best friend. Instead she’s above me,” Avayla’s letter read.
Smith said that Trinity was raised by a village and had a promising future.
“Trinity was so much more than the little girl shot on North,” she said.
Trinity’s father, Raishawn Smith, approached the judge while cradling a large picture frame of his favorite image of him holding his newborn daughter Raina on the day she was born with Trinity overlooking her new baby sister.
“I was so nervous about the relationship she would develop with her new sibling because she was such a daddy’s girl. When I saw this picture I knew she was here for it. She loved her siblings, all of them.”
Smith said he stood there in pain, “not for myself, but my family and the community that knew her.”
“I’d give anything to have my baby back,” he said.
Robinson will serve about 25 years in prison, with credit for time already served, as state guidelines require that two-thirds of a criminal sentence be served in prison and the remaining third served on conditional release.
He was charged last February with one count of second-degree murder. A grand jury in July indicted him on three counts of first-degree murder, including one that specifically says the killing was committed for the benefit of a gang.
Prosecutor Joshua Larson said that young men are far too eager to shoot each other despite consequences. And while Trinity was the unintended target, he said the shooting was no accident, as Robinson has described.
“Trinity was taken from us because the defendant intentionally tried to kill someone,” he said.
Robinson committed the drive-by shooting directed at three men on a porch. He disregarded a trampoline full of children in between him and the gang rivals, Larson said.
A bullet struck Trinity in the head. She died in the hospital 12 days later.
In the span of three weeks in 2021, three children were shot in the head on the North Side. Ladavionne Garrett Jr. was struck April 30 while riding in a vehicle, and Aniya Allen, 6, was shot while riding in her mother’s car. She died two days later, on May 19.
Trinity’s killing is the only one that has resulted in an arrest and now a conviction.
A reward of up to $180,000 is being offered for information into the unsolved shootings.
“What a blessing to have the opportunity to bring justice for my daughter,” Smith said. “But this is only one case. There’s so many more kids that need this, so many more families that need this… who have lost a child or had a child hurt wrongfully in the community that they live in, the community that they grow up in— or are supposed to grow up in.”
Ladavionne Garrett Jr.’s grandmother, Sherrie Jennings, attended Robinson’s sentencing in support of the family and to raise awareness of her grandson’s case.
She said he remains unable to walk or talk and has brain surgery schedule for the fall after his 13th birthday in October.
“Justice will be served and we’re coming,” Jennings said. “One down, two to go.”
When the Minnesota Supreme Court this week declined to hear an appeal by the University of St. Thomas regarding the environmental impact of its new hockey/basketball arena under construction, neighbor and arena foe Dan Kennedy said the “ethical” thing for the university to do was stop construction until neighbor concerns are addressed.
Not going to happen, university officials said Thursday.
While a public review of a revised Environmental Assessment Worksheet continues through Nov. 7, construction of the 5,000-seat Lee and Penny Anderson Arena continues. In an e-mail Thursday, a university spokesman said the arena is expected to be completed in fall 2025.
“The University of St. Thomas is aware of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision to deny its petition to appeal and is reviewing the potential impacts of this decision,” an emailed statement from St. Thomas said. “Last week, the City of St. Paul published an updated EAW for public comment, and that process will continue. Construction of the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena will also continue, as permitted by law.”
But Kennedy said he believes that decision is not only wrong, but illegal. Because the state Court of Appeals this summer ruled the project’s first environmental review was inadequate, its site plans and building permits are invalid, said the president of Advocates for Responsible Development.
“We need somebody to specifically tell the University of St. Thomas that they must comply with the law,” Kennedy said. “This is an institution of higher learning, with a law school. They should comply with the law.”
Kennedy said he thought the Minnesota Court of Appeals had insisted on exactly that. In August, the appellate court ordered the city and university to conduct a new Environmental Assessment Worksheet. The previous assessment didn’t do enough to study the arena’s potential harm to the neighborhood’s parking, traffic and air quality, the court ruled.
“The reason why is that more sunlight in the morning time helps reinforce waking up, and having less light in the evening is less stimulation,” he said. “So when we’re winding down, preparing for sleep, having fewer hours of sunlight in the evening can help promote that process of falling asleep.”
Akingbola acknowledges that it can be sad to walk out of work or school when it’s already dark out, but in the long run, standard time is the way to go.
The U.S. already tried daylight savings year round in 1974
Despite the medical advice, there have been calls in recent years to make daylight savings time permanent.
Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, tried to pass a bill as recently as 2021 to make daylight savings time permanent, but it did not pass the Legislature.
The U.S. tried once before. According to Minnesota Star Tribune archives, due to an energy crisis, President Richard Nixon passed a law in January 1974 that made daylight savings a year-round thing.
A month into it, the Minneapolis Tribune ran an article saying there were calls to reverse the decision because there were more accidents in the pre-dawn darkness, particularly involving school children waiting for the bus. Under daylight savings time in January, sunrise wasn’t until well after 8 a.m. in Minnesota.
Karl-Anthony Towns may be in New York City, but his heart is in Minnesota.
On Wednesday night, Towns had some sweet seats for a Billie Eilish show at Madison Square Garden with his partner, Jordyn Woods, when she caught him watching the Timberwolves play the Chicago Bulls in a preseason game on his phone. Her video, posted to her Instagram story, made rounds on social media Thursday.
In the video, flames are literally spewing out from Eilish’s stage, lights are flashing all around and others in the crowd are head bobbing. And there is Towns, holding his phone in both hands and muttering to himself as the Timberwolves are down 88-75 late in the third quarter in a meaningless game.
“I promise he was enjoying the concert,” Woods wrote in the video’s caption.
The Wolves would go on to lose that game, 125-123. A nail-biter.
Towns’ trade to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and others stunned the NBA world and all of Minnesota, where he was a beloved player for nine seasons and a leader on a team rapidly ascending toward championship contention.
“It was a lot of emotions,” Towns said. “Some amazing moments and times in nine years of my life in Minnesota, a place that I’ve called home. Guys who are not just teammates to me but brothers. We were like brothers. It definitely was a wild day, definitely coming to work.”
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