Bloods member gets life sentence in federal gang crackdown
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A Bloods member targeted by federal prosecutors in a crackdown on Minneapolis street gangs is headed to federal prison for the rest of his life.
In October, a jury convicted Bloods member Desean James Solomon, 34, and two other men in connection with the murders of rivals Marcus Banks in 2020 and Rayshawn Brown in 2022.
Jurors also convicted Solomon of racketeering conspiracy. In 2023, federal prosecutors in Minnesota launched an effort to use the RICO law, originally passed in 1970 to dismantle the mafia, to target the Bloods, Highs, Lows, and other Minneapolis street gangs.
The trial was the first to stem from the U.S. Attorney’s Office initiative, in which more than 100 alleged gang members have been charged with a variety of crimes. In April, a jury in Minneapolis convicted three Highs members of murder and racketeering. Dozens of other defendants have pleaded guilty.
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At a hearing in St. Paul on Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristian Weir asked Judge Susan Richard Nelson to impose a life sentence.
“This conviction in this case is a reflection not just of Desean Solomon’s personal acts of violence that he committed on behalf of the Bloods, but of everything that the enterprise has done to this entire city for years,” Weir said.
The prosecutor also noted that after the 2020 police murder of George Floyd, the Bloods increased their drug trafficking activity in south Minneapolis when they “saw an opportunity not to help a wounded community but to funnel even more fentanyl and violence into that wounded community.”
Defense attorney Thomas Plunkett argued against a life sentence for Solomon.
“Can a tree born crooked ever grow straight?” Plunkett asked. “I don’t know the answer to that, but it seems that the sentencing guidelines would suggest that we have to give that tree a chance.”
In sentencing Solomon to life plus 20 years, Nelson noted his lack of remorse and long history of violent crime, which began with the armed robbery of an ice cream shop when he was 18. Solomon is already serving a 36-year state sentence for killing Banks outside the 200 Club in north Minneapolis.
“What this court was searching for in fashioning this sentence was a kernel of hope that you could be trusted again not to commit violence,” Nelson said. “I couldn’t find that kernel of hope. I couldn’t find it in your criminal history. I couldn’t find it in your violent acts.”
Nelson told Solomon that she's left "with the certainty that you will always be a risk to public safety."
“What you’ve shown is an utter and complete disregard for the value of life,” the judge added. “The brutality of the Bloods gang. Your role as a shooter, a shooter of people.”
Michael Burrell, one of Solomon's co-defendants, faces sentencing Thursday, and prosecutors are seeking a 32-year prison term. In a court filing, Weir notes that Burrell did not shoot either of the murder victims but did start the gunfight that led to Banks' death.
The third defendant, Leontawan Holt, is due to be sentenced June 18.
