MINNEAPOLIS — A Hennepin County court has convicted a Maple Grove woman of fatally shooting her boyfriend in March 2020.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office says Stephanie Clark, 31, has been convicted of intentional second-degree murder.
Clark was originally charged back in March 2020 for the shooting death of her boyfriend, who the Hennepin County Medical Examiner identified as 30-year-old Don'Juan Tymone Butler of Maple Grove.
Authorities say officers responded to reports of a shooting around 6 p.m. on March 5, where they were told by neighbors loud bangs had been heard coming from another apartment.
A criminal complaint states officers saw the defendant standing outside the witness' apartment soon after with her five-year-old son, at which point she said, "he's dead" and later said, "I shot him because he hit me."
Officers originally located Butler inside his bedroom with an apparent gunshot wound to the head. A medical examination would later reveal he had been shot "multiple times" in the back, the side, and the head, according to authorities.
Authorities say investigators determined Clark's 5-year-old was present at the time of the incident after spotting a "half-eaten sandwich on a children's plate on the kitchen table."
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office cites a post-Miranda interview, in which Clark stated she'd gotten into an escalating fight with her boyfriend. She said he struck her in the stomach and back. She then claimed she left the apartment to pick up her son, and upon returning, continued an argument with her boyfriend. It was at this point she followed him with a .22 double-barrel action revolver and shot him in the chest.
Authorities say upon firing all rounds within the .22, Clark picked up a separate .380 revolver and shot Butler in the head two times in an apparent effort to "stop him from talking."
Clark is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 18 at 9 a.m. The Hennepin County Attorney's Office says the state prosecution will seek a sentence of 367 months in prison, though the attorney's office presumes this will be knocked down to 306 months based on Minnesota's Sentencing Guidelines.
