The last of three men involved in a home invasion that left a Maplewood father dead in the fall of 2015 has been sentenced.
Ernest Donald Atchison Jr., 33, was sentenced Monday to eight and a half years in prison on one count of first-degree burglary for his role in the deadly robbery, according to Ramsey County District Court records.
Justin Niles Wright, 31, was fatally shot during the home invasion, which took place at Wright’s house on the 2200 block of Hazel St. in the early morning hours of Nov. 7, 2015.
Previous charges of second-degree murder and another count of first-degree burglary were dismissed against Atchison after he reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
Atchison, Bradley James Cook, 36, and Brandon Lamar Cooper, 30, devised the plan to rob Wright.
They had heard that Wright was a drug dealer and were targeting his marijuana.
According to the criminal complaint, Wright’s girlfriend told officers she and Wright had been asleep when she woke to a strange voice just outside the bedroom saying, “Tell me where it’s at.”
Wright also was in the hallway, she said, and she saw him lunge toward a dark figure. Then she heard a single gunshot and saw Wright stagger through the house, eventually collapsing in the living room.
Police found Wright dead on the living room floor after his girlfriend called 911.
Cooper pulled the trigger. He pleaded guilty in January to one count of unintentional second-degree murder and was sentenced in February.
Cook pleaded guilty last July to one count of aiding and abetting first-degree burglary for his role in the deadly invasion.
He was sentenced in March.