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Sentences reduced for 2 in '03 beating death
By MONICA LUNDQUIST Cass County Correspondent WALKER - Cass County District Court Judge John P. Smith reduced sentences Dec. 14 for two people convicted of second-degree murder in 2003 for the beating death of Brian Jenny at Federal Dam.
This re-sentencing responds to a Supreme Court ruling made after the summer of 2003, stating when juries find persons guilty of a crime, a jury also must find when the crime warrants any upward departure from sentencing guidelines. Judges cannot issue upward departures without guidance from a jury, the ruling stated.
While the ruling was made with regard to federal cases, the impact has been to affect state courts as well.
A Cass County jury found Kenneth Conrad Conger Jr., who was 16 at the time of the murder Oct. 5, 2002, but was tried as an adult in District Court, guilty of three counts of second-degree murder following a July 2003 trial. That jury did not consider sentencing. Aug. 18, 2003, Smith issued an upward departure from sentencing guidelines and ordered Conger to serve 420 months in state prison, an upward departure from state guidelines.
A separate Cass County jury found Leah Danielle Harper-Jenkins, who was 19 at the time of the murder, guilty of three counts of second-degree murder following a June 2003 trial. That jury also did not consider sentencing. July 28, 2003, Smith ordered Harper-Jenkins to serve 360 months in the state prison, an upward departure from state guidelines.
Dec. 14, Conger and Harper-Jenkins waived their rights to jury trials on their sentences. Smith ordered revised sentences, reducing Conger's sentence to 384 months and Harper-Jenkins' to 336 months. They were given credit for time served prior to sentencing.
Both revised sentences are still higher than the state guidelines, but allowable, because they waived their rights to have a jury consider the severity of the crimes.
According to the initial court complaints filed against Conger and Harper-Jenkins, they had been at a party at a Federal Dam cabin where Jenny was present. The trio walked into downtown Federal Dam to look for more beer, the complaint indicated.
While on a downtown alley, Conger and Harper-Jenkins beat Jenny with a baseball bat, then went back to the cabin to get a car, then loaded Jenny in a near-death condition into the car and drove him to Peter's Pond Road where they left him, the complaints state.
Hunters found Jenny lying in a ditch early the next morning. He was transported to a Twin Cities hospital where he died Oct. 7, 2002, of injuries consistent with being severely beaten.
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