ST PAUL, Minn. — Inside the Ramsey County Courthouse today the man charged with the murder of four St. Paul friends took the stand.
Nitosha Pressley, Matthew Pettus, Loyace Foreman, III and Jasmine Sturm were all found shot dead inside an abandoned SUV in a Wisconsin cornfield back in September of 2021.
The Ramsey County Attorney's Office later charged 39-year-old Antoine Suggs with four counts of second-degree murder.
“She was outgoing and had a laugh that would just make you laugh,” said Damone Pressley about his daughter, Nitosha.
“My son was an amazing artist, a great father and a music producer,” said Jessica Foreman, Loyace’s mother.
Both embraced outside the courtroom during a break after hearing the defendant's testimony.
“To relive my daughter's last moment of her life and to be here is surreal,” said Pressley.
Suggs told the courtroom he had recently met the four victims during his trip back to visit his children in Minnesota from Arizona, where he was living at the time. He argued that he thought he was going to be robbed and felt threatened at the time of the shooting.
Home surveillance video and audio presented to the jury showed the moment shots were fired inside the moving car, which forced some family members to walk out of the courtroom.
“To see and hear what actually took place, it was hard to sit there and go through that whole process,” said Pressley. “Exhausting, I never thought it would take such an emotional toll to sit and have to see, hear, such graphic details,” said Foreman.
Suggs entered a plea of "not guilty" to the charges, but his father pleaded guilty last year to helping Suggs hide the bodies. He's currently serving a four-year sentence. According to a complaint, Suggs told his father he “snapped and shot a couple of people.”
As the defense and prosecutors gear up for closing arguments, the victim’s family members are remembering them.
“Just heartbroken,” said Pressley. “My daughter and her friends just out having a good time and it ended up in tragedy.”
Closing arguments are expected to resume Friday morning before being handed over to the jury to deliberate.
If convicted, Suggs could face up to 160 years in prison.
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