St. Paul man acquitted in '99 convenience store killing
A jury has acquitted a St. Paul man who had been accused of killing a man outside a north Minneapolis convenience store on July 9, 1999.
Hennepin County Attorney spokesman Chuck Laszewski said the jury took less than five hours on Tuesday to find 32-year-old Earl Vang not guilty of first and second degree murder.
According to the criminal complaint, Miguel McElroy was shot to death by two men outside of a convenience store after a drug deal went bad.
In 2013, Hennepin County District Judge Bruce Peterson ordered a new trial for Vang, ruling that he received ineffective representation from his lawyer and that a witness' new statement and new evidence identified potential suspects.
The ruling allowed Minneapolis police and Hennepin County prosecutors to reopen the case.
Vang's current attorney, Earl Gray, was unavailable for comment on this story.
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