St. Paul man sentenced for shooting during pot deal

Nick Ferraro, Pioneer Press
Updated ·3 min read

An 18-year-old St. Paul man has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for shooting a man last year on the city’s East Side while robbing him of money during a marijuana deal.

Dorian Michael Slife pleaded guilty to first-degree aggravated robbery in connection with the shooting, which left the 20-year-old man in “grave condition” with a gunshot wound to his upper torso, according to court records. Slife was sentenced Thursday.

His co-defendant, Marjani Nayan Johnson-Clomon, 18, of St. Paul, faces the same charge. A pre-trial hearing is set for Wednesday in his case.

Police officers at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 21 responded to a 911 call from a man who said he’d been shot. The call was made in the area of Payne Avenue and Beaumont Street.

Officers found the man’s car in an alley behind 655 Payne Ave., then found him nearby behind a garage and privacy fence. He underwent life-saving surgery at Regions Hospital. The bullet grazed his heart.

According to the criminal complaint, the man later told investigators he was shot while trying to buy marijuana from a man he contacted through Snapchat and knows as “Mar.” Investigators later identified him as Johnson-Clomon.

The man, identified in the complaint as JAD, said Johnson-Clomon sent him a pin drop in the area of Beaumont and Bedford streets. When he got there, Johnson-Clomon and another man walked up to his car.

JAD told investigators the man, who police later identified was Slife, pulled out a revolver and immediately shot him while he was sitting in the driver’s seat.

JAD said he put his car in drive and pulled across the street. Slife ran, while Johnson-Clomon approached and asked for the money. JAD threw the money on the ground and Johnson-Clomon picked it up. JAD walked away from his car to call 911.

Video surveillance

Video surveillance in the area supports JAD’s story, police said. In the video, Johnson-Clomon walked up to the driver’s window first with Slife behind him. Johnson-Clomon did not immediately run as Slife did, but “casually walked” to the driver’s side of the car and then picked something up, the complaint states. JAD got out of the car and held his arm to his body as if injured. Johnson-Clomon closed the driver’s door and ran.

Other camera footage shows Johnson-Clomon wearing a black hooded zip-up sweatshirt with white drawstrings, white high tops and blue jeans, the complaint said. Slife wore a black hooded sweatshirt with white lettering across the front that read “Brickhouse,” dark pants, a black facemask and black slippers. Both men came from and returned to a house in the 700 block of Bedford Street.

JAD allowed officers to access his phone and Snapchat account. A conversation with Johnson-Clomon and JAD was consistent with a drug deal.

Photos connected with Johnson-Clomon’s Snapchat account showed Johnson-Clomon holding a revolver. In a photo of Johnson-Clomon and Slife, the pair wore the same clothes seen in the surveillance video during the robbery, the complaint said.

Investigators processed the door of JAD’s car and a fingerprint matched Clomon-Johnson’s known fingerprint.

Officers arrested Slife on Sept. 19 outside the Bedford Street house, where they recovered clothing he wore during the robbery.

In an interview, Slife denied involvement in the robbery and shooting. He also denied knowing Johnson-Clomon, “despite photographic evidence to the contrary,” the complaint states.

‘Inadvertently discharged’

Slife’s attorney, Luis Rangel Morales, asked Ramsey County District Judge Timothy Carey to give him probation. In his pre-hearing motion, Rangel Morales said Slife is “deeply remorseful for his actions” and “hoping to move forward.”

Slife admitted to pointing a gun at JAD with the intent of stealing, but it “inadvertently discharged given Mr. Slife’s nervousness,” his attorney said.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Cory Tennison argued for a 57-month prison term, which Carey handed down.

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