St. Paul Man Sentenced To 24 Years In Prison For Beating Death Of 24-Year-Old

[Note: Featured video is from July 2018]

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 30-year-old St. Paul man learned he will spend 24 years behind bars for an assault that eventually led to the death of a 24-year-old Brooklyn Park man, according to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

On Tuesday, Terry Williams pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional murder in the beating death of Lance Grant. He was sentenced to 290 months in prison Thursday morning.

On the late evening of Nov. 27, 2017, police officers responded to an assault call on 6 North 5th Street. Upon arrival, officers found a victim covered in blood and unconscious.

Police say surveillance footage showed a suspect beating a victim, including stomping the victim's head, and robbing the victim of his wallet.

Following the assault, the victim was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center in critical condition.

The suspect, later identified as Williams, was arrested the next day at the Downtown Library in Minneapolis.

When he was arrested, Williams allegedly told police "Yeah bro, I did it bro, ain't nothing to talk about". He allegedly said that he knew they were there to talk about the "murder" and that he had murdered others, but this was the first time he was caught.

While on his way to jail, police said he spontaneously said that the victim assaulted him earlier, so he hit him back as revenge.

Grant remained at the hospital until he died on June 27, 2018 of complications from blunt force head injury. His manner of death was ruled a homicide. Soon after, the attempted murder charge against Williams was upgraded to second-degree murder.

When pleading guilty Tuesday, Williams also admitted to aggravating factors that allowed the judge to impose a longer sentence. The main aggravating factor was Grant's vulnerability because he was unconscious and defenseless during the beating.

In court, Grant's mother and younger sister gave victim impact statements, telling the court that he never got to meet his daughter, who will celebrate her birthday on Saturday, April 6.