A Minneapolis man has pleaded guilty to making good on a jailhouse vow and finishing off his adversary once he got out.
Tescil R. Mason-Kimmons, 33, of Minneapolis, admitted this week in Hennepin County District Court to second-degree intentional murder in connection with the Sept. 15, 2017, execution-style shooting of 44-year-old John R. Lacy on a sidewalk bordering Peavey Park near downtown Minneapolis.
Mason-Kimmons, of Minneapolis, remains jailed ahead of sentencing on Oct. 2. Prosecutors anticipate he will receive a term topping 30 years. He had been indicted by a grand jury for first-degree murder and faced life in prison without parole if he had been convicted in a trial.
Police say a simmering feud between Mason-Kimmons and Lacy led to the shooting.
It wasn't until after Lacy was dead that police heard a recording of a jail phone call made earlier between Mason-Kimmons and a woman he lived with, according to the criminal complaint. They heard Mason-Kimmons tell her he "intended to kill [Lacy] when he got out of jail," the complaint continued.
Mason-Kimmons was in jail for allegedly stabbing Lacy. Two days after he was released, he shot Lacy in the head, prosecutors alleged.
The woman on the other end of the phone call, 29-year-old Elana R. Danowit, was charged with murder, accused of being Mason-Kimmons' getaway driver after the shooting. She is scheduled to go on trial Nov. 5.
Mason-Kimmons' criminal history in Minnesota includes one conviction for first-degree criminal sexual conduct, four for drug offenses, two for drunken driving, and convictions for promoting prostitution and disorderly conduct.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
