A St. Paul man was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison for fatally shooting a person who was running from a fight in the town’s Frogtown neighborhood last July.

Payton Lee Wood, 23, had pleaded guilty to unintentional murder in reference to the killing of 59-year-old Jeffrey Foss, who was shot behind the top within the 600 block of Dale Street on July 1, 2022, after an altercation over liquor and cigarettes.

Wood told police that he feared he was going to be stabbed during a fight with Foss’ friend, who at one point pulled out a knife.

Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Erin Gustafson said at sentencing that video surveillance shows Wood fired one shot from about 80 to 90 feet away at Foss and Foss’ friend.

“This shouldn’t be self-defense, or felony manslaughter,” Gustafson said. “That is felony murder.”

Each Foss’ friend and Wood’s friend told police that Foss “didn’t do anything to instigate the situation or provoke the situation,” Gustafson said.

Wood, who had no prior criminal history, faced a suggestion sentence of between 128 and 150 months. Gustafson argued for a “middle-of-the-box” sentence.

“What I can’t recover from, Mr. Wood, are things about you which might be totally diametrically opposite,” Ramsey County Judge Jacob Kraus said before handing down the 144-month sentence. “One is that you could have no history that’s relevant. You furthermore mght brought a gun to a fistfight, or at most, a knife fight.”

Punctured tire

Foss was found dead on a sidewalk in front of a Frogtown apartment constructing, where Wood lived, at about 3 a.m.

Wood’s friend reported that they saw two men walking near picnic tables who were taking a look at liquor bottles and cigarette packs on the tables. Wood asked one in all the lads what they were doing and told him the items on the tables were “their stuff.”

Foss’ friend told Wood that whatever was left on the table by the road was “fair game.”

Foss said, “We mean no harm,” in response to the criticism. Wood’s friend said he “didn’t understand why Wood was making an enormous deal out of it for the reason that bottles and cigarette packs were empty,” the criticism continued.

Wood and Foss’ friend fought. When Foss’ friend had Wood by the neck, Wood’s friend removed the hold. Foss’ friend grabbed a knife and dropped it on the street.

Wood went toward his vehicle and Foss’ friend punctured one in all his tires with the knife. The person later told police he did it to forestall Wood and his friend from chasing him and Foss. He said he yelled for Foss to run and, after rounding a corner, he heard a gunshot.

Wood left the scene and turned himself in to police five days later. Wood, who spoke to investigators along with his attorney, said Foss’ friend swung a knife at him, he and his friend backed away, and the person followed them to his Chevrolet Avalanche. He said he grabbed a gun from the truck and fired once when Foss’ friend was about 5 feet from him.

“Wood said he feared the person was going to stab him or come back later to do something,” the criticism said.

When an investigator told Wood the person he shot was not the one with the knife and “was much farther away than 5 feet, Wood indicated that his version was how he recalled the incident,” the criticism continued.

Wood said he had the gun for cover due to problems in the realm. He said he threw it within the Mississippi River and someone removed his clothes.

Surveillance footage

Gustafson told the court Wednesday that Wood’s statement to police was “flat-out lies” and was contradicted by what was captured on surveillance footage.

“The 2 others which might be still alive, besides the defendant, are each clear that Mr. Foss never assaulted anyone, never did anything,” she said. “They’re also each clear that (Foss’ friend) never was swinging a knife at anybody, was never threatening anybody along with his knife.”

Wood’s attorney, Paul Sellers, asked the judge for a 128-month sentence. He said the “undisputed facts” are that Wood was placed right into a headlock, a knife was pulled and he attempted to flee before his tire was slashed and he fired a single shot.

Sellers said Wood grew up in Forest Lake and “wasn’t used to situations like that in any respect. He wasn’t used to confrontations turning physical. The entire situation was surprising to him and confusing, and led to this.”

Before hearing his sentence from the judge, Wood apologized to Foss’ family, saying “it’s something they need to never should undergo.”

Before being set free of the courtroom to serve his sentence, he looked back at family and friends sitting within the gallery and blew them a kiss.