MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Documents show the teen accused in a shooting last weekend was charged in a separate case earlier this year, and could have gone to prison but didn't.
"If we can prove what we've set forth in the allegations, he deserves one heck of a time in the big house," said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. He's talking about J'Quan McInnis, of Minneapolis, who is charged in the shooting death of 20-year-old Gustav Christianson and an infant.
McInnis is 17, but is charged as an adult in the case.
"A number of his earlier actions were primarily we understand property crimes," said Freeman during a press conference Thursday.
Court documents show McInnis was charged for attempted aggravated robbery, which happened in June in the area of Elliot Avenue South and 22nd Street East in Minneapolis.
The criminal complaint describes how a woman told police she was walking with a child when McInnis confronted her, demanded her cell phone, threw her to the ground and ran off. The woman suffered some scrapes on her arm.
The maximum sentence in that case would've been 10 years in prison, but McInnis plead guilty as an adult in exchange for no jail time and instead got three years probation, along with other conditions.
All of this was signed off by the Hennepin County Attorney's Office, which sent the following statement to KARE 11 News: "That is right in line with what we have obtained in similar cases."
Former U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger, says a plea deal like the one McInnis took is not unusual.
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Thursday, his office is still working to learn more about McInnis's past.