Prison until death is facing three men now that a grand jury has upped the ante against the defendants who are charged with breaking into a north Minneapolis home, raping a woman and her teen daughter during a terror-filled ambush and then making off with electronics and other possessions.
A Hennepin County grand jury has indicted the three Minneapolis men on 11 counts each — nine of which would be punishable by life without parole — in connection with the home invasion last summer, County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Friday.
The defendants remain jailed in lieu of $2 million bail each before court appearances this week: Deondre L. Bishop, 30; Reggie D.P. Bishop, 31, and Roynell Taylor, 31. All three have lengthy criminal records in Minnesota. Authorities have not disclosed how the Bishops are related.
Criminal sexual conduct charges were filed against the three in November. The grand jury charges were necessary to ramp up the potential sentence to the maximum allowed in the state for any offense.
The woman's 14-year-old daughter was ambushed in the kitchen by the three men about 11 p.m., prosecutors said. One gunman grabbed the girl by the throat and all three took her upstairs, where her mother was sleeping.
The men tied their victims' arms behind their backs, put pillowcases over their heads and demanded to know where "the money was," the complaint read.
When the victims said they didn't know, the men threatened to have them get in a tub of scalding water or burn them with an iron. One suggested killing them if they didn't lead the men to the money, the complaint said.
After the men ransacked the house, one of them took the teenager upstairs to her bed and raped her. At the same time, another brought the mother upstairs, the complaint said, and she peered through the thin pillowcase and saw her daughter being raped.
The mother had a gun put to her head and was forced to perform oral sex. She was then taken to her daughter's room and raped by a different man while being struck in the back of the head, possibly by a gun, the complaint said.
After roughly 90 minutes, the men left with televisions, a laptop and a cellphone, and the mother called police.
Along with the woman recognizing one of the attackers, the complaint said police relied on other evidence, including DNA on a lemonade bottle and information from a cabdriver, to identify suspects. The woman's cellphone was found on one of the suspects.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
