Hear their stories
Briana M.
Age at time of event: 20
Current Age: 23
Sentence: 13.5 years
Briana's story
Briana was raised in a very close, loving, Christian family in a suburb south of Minneapolis. She started basketball and soccer at an early age which continued throughout her school years. Academically, Briana excelled in school, graduating with some college credits. However, somewhere along the way, bullying against her began, followed up by a suicide attempt. Next, Briana switched schools to escape the bullying and was raped by a young man at her new school. This is when the experimental drug use escalated to a full substance abuse problem.
Briana’s tragic event happened on an evening in April 2017. Briana and Megan had been visiting their friend, who also sold them drugs, and his girlfriend frequently for a few weeks buying drugs, using drugs and hanging out. One evening before the tragedy Briana had a bottle of prescription medication disappear from her purse. After reaching out several times to ask for the prescription and being denied the girls decided they should go and take them back.
During this time a friend of the girls and the ex-roommate of the young drug dealer reached out after seeing social media posts of them at the apartment. He and his friend were going to get some belongings the young man had stolen from him as well. They decided to go together to get back their stuff. The boys decided to bring in some “guys” to help. When they got to the apartment building the guys who knew the girls sent them in with the two men the girls did not know. In the stairwell of the apartment building, these two men put on rubber gloves, put up their hoods and one of the men pulled out a gun and told the girls that if either girl were to screw anything up that he would not have a problem killing them both. Upon entering the apartment, the two men beat the young man and the situation became completely out of control and the girls tried to leave and were locked into the apartment by the man with the gun. Then one of the two men shot and killed the young man. The girls fled for their lives at the first opportunity.
All six involved were charged with 1st degree murder and faced Life without parole under felony murder. They all took plea deals. Briana and Megan both plead to aiding and abetting second degree unintentional murder and both received 13.5 years. The two young men who stayed in the car also plead to this and received 12.75 years. The accomplice got 20 years. The shooter was the first person the DA made a deal with to testify against everyone else. He plead to aiding and abetting second degree intentional murder and received 30 years.
Who is Briana today?
Briana has been in prison for almost 3 years now and she is 23 years old. During this time, she has been working hard to be a better version of herself and try to make a difference in other women’s lives in prison too. Upon arriving at Shakopee’s Women’s Prison, Briana applied/accepted/graduated from the Prison Fellowship Academy (PFA). PFA is a 12-month Christian program which takes women through a life transformation. After PFA graduation, Briana became part of the PFA graduate leadership program where she was a peer mentor to other women going through this same program. Next, Briana applied, interviewed, and was accepted into the Honors program. Acceptance into the Honors program requires a person to be considered a role model, a leader to others in the prison, and to be discipline free. Briana has been taking 2 to 3 college courses a semester since arriving at Shakopee. Her first job at the Shakopee prison was as a tutor for women trying to obtain their GED. Currently, Briana is working as a mentor to women just entering the Shakopee facility. Briana was asked specifically to apply for this position because of her positive attitude. Briana’s Sargent recently stated “Your kind words and actions do not go unnoticed around here.”
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Kevin R.
Age at time of event: 18
Current Age: 34
Sentence: 23 years
Sade S.
Age at time of event: 18
Current Age: 30
Sentence: 15 years
Megan C.
Age at time of event: 19
Current Age: 22
Sentence: 13.5 years