Ashimiyu Alowonle, who escaped death in a shooting two years ago outside Block E, beat felony murder charges Friday.
Alowonle, who turns 22 next week, was acquitted on all charges in connection with the fatal shooting of Isalena B. Jones as she left a house in Minneapolis in July 2006. He had been jailed for most of the past two years awaiting trial.
Only months before Jones' shooting, Alowonle was the intended target when Derick Holliday shot and killed innocent bystander Alan Reitter, 31, of Minnetonka, outside Block E. A fight between Holliday and Alowonle had spilled from the movie theater into the streets.
Holliday is serving a life sentence, which Alowonle also would have faced if he had been convicted.
As an emotional Alowonle came into the courtroom Friday before the verdict, assistant public defenders Paul Maravigli and Kelly Madden adjusted his tie and straightened the collar on his shirt and suit.
Alowonle sat down and held his head in his hands as Hennepin County District Judge George McGuinnigle asked for the verdict to be read.
The jury found him not guilty of eight charges, including first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, first-degree murder for the benefit of a gang and attempted first-degree murder for the benefit of a gang as well as other related charges.
The lawyers and the defendant sat calmly even as the judge said he would release Alowonle despite a pending misdemeanor charge on an unrelated matter.
"The jury saw the evidence was far too flimsy to sustain conviction on any of these counts," Maravigli said after the acquittal. Most significantly, he said, one witness said the shooter was "medium skinned" and "Mr. Alowonle is very light-skinned."
Maravigli said he has encouraged his client to move out of town and "make a life for himself. He's a very smart young man."
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Pete Connors declined to comment as he left the courtroom.
In March, Justin Lamont Buckingham is scheduled to go on trial on multiple murder counts for his alleged role in the death of the 22-year-old Jones.
Jones and another woman were shot as they walked from a house in the 2100 block of Lyndale Avenue N. in the Hawthorne neighborhood to a vacant house next door. Police said they apparently were trying to check on a noise.
Police, who had heard a large number of shots fired in the area, quickly found the women.
Jones was taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, where she died a little more than an hour after she was shot. The other woman's injuries were not life-threatening.
During his closing argument before the jury began deliberating Thursday afternoon, Connors portrayed Alowonle as a violent young man. "Isalena Jones was shot and murdered by this defendant. Don't let his age fool you," he said.
But the jury didn't believe it.
Jones' mother, Brindale Moore of Racine, Wis., was in the courtroom for the verdict. "That's a damn shame," she said softly.
Kabiru Alowonle went into the hallway and started calling friends to tell them the good news about his older brother. "We're just thankful right now that justice was served," Kabiru Alowonle, 20, said quietly.
"My family is very empathetic to their loss," he added. "We've lost family, too."
Alowonle, whom family members call "Cash," was expected to be released Monday.
Kabiru Alowonle, a journalism and African studies student at the University of Minnesota, said he has a two-bedroom apartment and expects his brother to come live with him and work on his high school diploma.
"He'll be all right," Kabiru Alowonle said. "He's just got to move on."
Rochelle Olson • 612-673-1747
