St. Paul Man Sentenced To Life In Prison For 2010 Murder
ST. CLOUD, Minn. (WCCO) -- A 51-year-old St. Paul man has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of a man in Minneapolis.
Last week, Alfunda Scruggs was charged with first-degree murder for the 2010 death of 45-year-old Michael Moulion Fonta. He was given his sentence at the St. Cloud Prison.
According to court documents, on Feb. 4, 2010, police responded to a call to an apartment building on the 300 block of 8th Street Southeast. When officers arrived, they found a man later identified as Fonta lying face down in the snow. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be complex homicidal violence.
Police said they found Scruggs and 38-year-old Hope Christina Jackson were linked to the murder and asked them to come to the homicide office, which they did.
Scruggs told investigators he'd been living with Fonta in that apartment for a month and Jackson had been living there for two weeks. He added that he hadn't seen Fonta in about two days and had been with Jackson since the evening before, according to the criminal complaint.
Prosecutors say Jackson told police a different story, admitting to smoking crack in the apartment with Scruggs and Fonta the night before. The report says when they were done, Fonta repeatedly called her "bitch," angering Scruggs to the point where he punched Fonta several times and said, "She's my bitch and I am the only one that can call her that."
Jackson said that's when Scruggs attacked Fonta, saying they couldn't let him go or they'd have to go to jail. Scruggs then allegedly forced Fonta to the ground face down, sat on him and started strangling him with a black strap or cord. Scruggs said Fonta's hands were still moving, so he went into the kitchen to get a knife or screwdriver and stabbed him in the neck at least twice, Jackson told investigators. She also told them she saw Scruggs try to catch the blood in some sheets and clean up the rest that had spilled.
Jackson admitted to opening two doors so Scruggs could drag the body outside, according to the criminal complaint. She said Scruggs told her if the police asked questions to tell them she hadn't seen Fonta in two days and she thought he'd gone to St. Paul.
Injuries on Fonta's body appear to be consistent with how Jackson described the assault.
Jackson was charged with accomplice after the fact to first-degree murder. Prosecutors allege that she knew about the murder and helped conceal evidence. If convicted, she could face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
