Anthony Trifiletti Sentenced To 12.5 Years For Murdering Driver After Fender Bender

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- A 25-year-old Watertown man was sentenced Wednesday to more than a decade in prison after he murdered a fellow driver following a minor collision on St. Paul's east side last spring.

The Ramsey County Attorney's Office says Anthony Trifiletti was found guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Douglas Lewis in May of 2020. He will now serve 12.5 years in prison, with credit for the past year he's served in MCF-St. Cloud.

The criminal complaint states Trifiletti fatally shot Lewis, 39, after a fender bender on Highway 61 near Burns Avenue. Both men pulled over, got out of their vehicles and started arguing. Trifiletti told investigators he believed Lewis was going to grab a gun from his waistband, so he shot him four times in what he said was an act of self-defense.

The conviction comes less than three months after a mistrial was declared in his first trial in Ramsey County due to a hung jury.