Monday, January 27, 2014

Turns Out Ron Christopher Powell, Charged In South Minneapolis Murder, Is A North Minneapolis Resident...

Mug shot, therefore public domain, blog post by John
Hoff


Ron Christopher Powell, who may or may not be a member of a Minneapolis "crime family" with that same surname, is charged for the murder of a man at Champions Bar (105 West Lake Street) where police say numerous individuals at the scene refused to cooperate with police. The owners of the bar, incredibly, are trying to blame police for "creating conditions" that somehow led to the shooting.  

Oh yeah? Well, JNS blog is here and now officially blaming Champions bar for...

..."creating conditions" that led to the shooting, specifically a skanky bar where armed layabouts like to hang out, drinking and doing unproductive no account things until (oops!) somebody ends up dead.

Click here for the criminal complaint and judge this murderous mayhem for yourself.

Turns out Ron Christopher Powell is a resident of North Minneapolis, at least according to his address on the criminal complaint: 1700 Upton Ave. North. The property in question is a rental owned by "Tenos M. Pete" of Bend, Oregon. There's somebody with that same distinctive name who was a defendant in a court case involving real estate and unlawful trade practices, click here for a link. I'm not going to dig too deeply into this because guest blogger Camden Canary loves this kind of thing and I'll just put him on the scent.

In the meantime, I have a message for Tenos Pete:

HELLO!!!??? CAN YOU HEAR ME OUT THERE IN OREGON?

Can you hear me across hundreds of miles of snowy plains, the Cascade Mountains, the eerie mist that clings to the Pacific coast and hides "Twilight" vampires and werewolves? Can you hear me through all that, Tenos Pete? If you can, here's a message for you:

 Maybe you need to pick better renters at your rental property in faraway Minneapolis.

 

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Or maybe you should own property that you can't possible manage or maintain because you live in, uh, OREGON.

Anonymous said...

...of course he is.

Anonymous said...

2013013496 POWELL, RON.CHRISTOPHER 4/4/1971 1700 UPTON AVE N, MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55411 5/20/2013.18:10

adventuresofjohnnynorthside.blogspot.com/2013/06/hennepin-county-jail-roster-january-22.html

Anonymous said...

Well I know the owner of Champions and he has put a lot of money into that place. 10K in lighting outside for example. You tell me how you control who the hell comes into your bar each and every second. The city wants to gentrify that corner plain and simple. I have lived here all my life you have not. That establishment was LaPizzaria for years. You have no clue. Now you are pissing me off.
MCullen NE

Anonymous said...

Of course he's from north Minneapolis. All the f#%king thugs live there. We should build a wall around the northside, toss crates of guns over the walls and wait until the shooting stops. Then bulldoze the whole area and gentrify it into a new utopia.

Johnny Northside! said...

Really? And you're cool with the bar owner blaming the POLICE for his problems? Sorry I'm upsetting you, McCullen, Nebraska. I know you USUALLY like the stuff I write. We might have to agree to disagree on this one.

Johnny Northside! said...

Well, looks like the City of Minneapolis and Johnny Northside are on the same page, here...

http://www.startribune.com/local/minneapolis/246633681.html

Anonymous said...

How about bar owner now you have free time as it is closed. How about he set off the metal detector prosthetic leg or not. With all the issues why did security take the chance. This guy was well known to carry really????? Yes bar owner Mr. Nelso this is your fault and some one was killed in your establishment that was doing nothging but getting a drink. Which family member are you willing to sacrifice Mr. Bar owner? What are you doing for the family that lost their loved one? OH YEAH NOTHING!

Johnny Northside! said...

Convicted, as follows:

-----------

Killer of innocent bystander in bar shooting pleads guilty
---------------
Ron Powell pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the shooting death of an innocent bystander in Champions Bar last August, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced.

Powell, 43, of Minneapolis, immediately was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with credit for 285 days already served in jail while he awaited trial, which was to begin Monday. In exchange for the guilty plea on the most serious charge, two others were dropped: second-degree assault and felon in possession of a firearm.

Under questioning from his lawyer, Powell admitted that he was in Champions Bar, 105 W. Lake Street, Minneapolis, on Aug. 8, 2013 when another bar patron came up and started punching him. Powell agreed with his attorney’s question that he “came into possession of a gun” and fired three times. Bullets hit his assailant, but one of the bullets also struck Mark A. Stephenson, 51, who was standing at the bar, killing him.

Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Deborah Russell asked Powell if he agreed that although “you were being attacked by Mr. Collins, shooting in a bar is not a reasonable response?”

Powell responded with a “yes.”

Stephenson’s mother, wife, brother and sister-in-law all gave emotional victim impact statements in which they noted Stephenson was a good man and a good husband, father and grandfather. By contrast, they said, Powell was a career criminal. They also made the point that it was unjust that Powell would only serve about 10 years in prison, the other five on probation, while they would never see Stephenson again.

Hennepin county District Court Judge Martha Holton Dimick expressed her condolences to the family and acknowledged there was no way she could explain to the family’s satisfaction that “there are certain rules the system has to follow.”