Final defendant gets 15 years for role in fatal shooting of White Bear Lake man in St. Paul

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
Updated ·5 min read

The last of six co-defendants charged in the 2021 killing of a White Bear Lake man during a botched robbery at a downtown St. Paul hotel has been sentenced to prison.

Ramsey County District Judge Paul Yang sentenced Leneil James Colbert Jr. to 15 years Tuesday for his role in the shooting death of 37-year-old Alexander Christoff, who prosecutors say was lured to SpringHill Suites by a prostitute.

A jury in November found Colbert, 33, of St. Cloud, guilty of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder-while committing a felony. The presumptive sentence for Colbert, who had a criminal history score of zero, was 12½ years in prison.

Prosecutors sought an aggravated sentence of 25 years, arguing that Colbert learned from Danell Ann Christner, who was working as a prostitute, that Christoff was a wealthy target and that he then helped plan the robbery.

Meanwhile, Colbert’s attorney, Eric Newmark, while asking the judge for a downward departure from state sentencing guidelines, noted that his client was not present during the killing and that the prosecution “does not contend that Mr. Colbert ever directed anyone to shoot or kill” Christoff.

Passed information

According to the criminal complaint, Christoff met Christner at SpringHill Suites at 472 Jackson St. on Aug. 28. As Christner was leaving the hotel, she contacted Colbert and told him that Christoff “had a lot of money, a lot of drugs and a nice car,” the complaint states. She also gave him Christoff’s hotel room number.

Cell tower location data revealed that Colbert, Anthony Melvin Lamont Curtis Pryor, Franklin Carnelius Spriggs and Tarrance Daronze Hardie were together at a downtown St. Paul bar earlier that night. Colbert gave the three men the information and they drove over to the hotel.

Christoff entered the parking garage at 12:24 a.m. Aug. 29. He was sitting in his Audi on the third floor when the three men, driving in a Mercedes-Benz, found him. They pulled up, blocked his car, pulled guns and banged on Christoff’s window. He refused to open the door.

Instead, he put the car in reverse and crashed into the Mercedes-Benz. Pryor fired two shots with a .45-caliber handgun, hitting Christoff twice.

A witness on the second floor heard the crash and gunshots. He told police he found Christoff lying face down on the ground by the Audi’s open passenger door. He said he tried to call police, but the phone wasn’t working, so he put Christoff into the Audi and drove to nearby Regions Hospital. Christoff died shortly after.

Within an hour of the shooting, Colbert called Christner again and exchanged at least 53 text messages with her. Christner told law enforcement that Colbert told her to sell her car, get rid of her phone, and that she had to move because “a guy might be dead,” the complaint states.

Pryor also tried to cover his tracks. He discarded his gun and phone, burned the clothes he had worn that day and ditched items stolen from Christoff’s car.

A break in the case came Sept. 14 when officers found the Mercedes-Benz in an auto body shop in Hopkins. The car had been partially covered by a tarp, but the rear license plate was visible. Investigators used the information from the car to track down Pryor, who was arrested Sept. 15 in Apple Valley.

Less time for co-defendants

All of Colbert’s co-defendants were sentenced last year to less prison time for their roles in the deadly robbery.

Pryor, 22, of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional murder-while committing a felony and was sentenced to nearly 11 years in prison. The sentence was a downward durational departure from state sentencing guidelines and kept with a plea deal he reached with prosecutors.

Travon Thomas Ferrara, 30, of South St. Paul, was sentenced to just over three years after pleading guilty to aiding an offender by being an accomplice after the fact. A charge of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder-while committing a felony was dismissed.

According to a criminal complaint, Colbert talked to Ferrara over the phone less than an hour before the shooting and told him to send Spriggs and Hardie, who were at his house, to the downtown St. Paul bar. Ferrara gave the group his Mercedes-Benz that would be used to commit the murder. After the killing, Colbert, Pryor, Spriggs and Hardie went directly to Ferrara’s house.

Ferrara also tried to get rid of his car by taking it to the auto shop, which his friend owned, and had his sister drop off the title and a lien release.

Hardie, 28, of St. Paul, and Spriggs, 32, of West St. Paul, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder-while committing a felony. Hardie received just over 14 years in prison, while Spriggs was given just over 20 years.

Christner, 39, of Maplewood, was sentenced to just over four years in prison after pleading guilty to an amended charge of aiding and abetting first-degree aggravated robbery. In exchange for the plea and for cooperating with the prosecution, a charge of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder-while committing a felony was dismissed.

Christner’s statements to police along with her testimony at Colbert’s trial were “important in establishing the knowing, voluntary, and intentional planning and execution of the robbery of [Christoff] by Leneil Colbert Jr., which resulted in the death of [Christoff],” states a January court document filed by prosecutors.

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