Family denounces Hibbing killer sentenced to life in prison – Duluth News Tribune

HIBBING — When Deshon Israel Bonnell was first convicted nearly five years ago, it was supposed to give Joshua Lavalley's family some closure.

Bonnell had, after all, admitted to fatally shooting the Aurora man, and his agreement to plead guilty allowed for a relatively quick resolution of the legal process without subjecting Lavalley's family to a trial.

That was until Bonnell successfully appealed his own guilty plea – reopening old wounds and forcing the victim's family to endure a weeks-long trial last month.

“I pray we never have to do this again,” Lavalley’s sister, Joann Vergoth, said Tuesday. “I pray he spends the rest of his life behind bars – a sentence he was not obligated to give, but surely deserves.”

If Bonnell, 23, had maintained his original plea, he would have had the opportunity to seek parole after 30 years in prison. But his decision to retract his confession and stand before a jury sealed his fate: he would now have to die in prison.

Judge Rachel Sullivan imposed a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole – a mandatory sentence for his conviction of first-degree premeditated murder.

It was a fitting consequence for Lavalley's family. Having lived with the trauma for more than five years, they spoke scathingly of the defendant.

“I hope Bonnell comes to regret the day when he destroyed so many people's lives and can be as miserable as he makes the rest of us,” said Jonni Tracy, another sister of the victim. “But I doubt it, because he’s a coward.” I hate him with every fiber of my being. He cannot and will never be forgiven by me or my family.

Bonnell, for his part, did nothing to dissuade the family from his ideas. He sat in his chair at the lawyers' table, showing no apparent emotion as the five victim impact statements were read. And when given the opportunity to speak, he was unrepentant.

“No matter what anyone believes, I'm innocent,” Bonnell said, drawing ridicule from several members of the gallery. “You believe what you want to believe, but I’m innocent. You got the wrong guy.

Bonnell, then 18, initially admitted that he drove a blindfolded Lavalley onto the Mesabi Trail in Hibbing on Jan. 6, 2019, shooting him twice in the face.

Although he was evasive on some details of the September 2019 plea, court documents and testimony from two co-defendants indicated the killing was staged in response to the victim's alleged advances toward Bonnell's girlfriend.

A snowmobiler later discovered Lavalley's body, which had to be identified using his fingerprints. His family learned of his death on what would have been his 34th birthday.

While Bonnell admitted to the crime, the Minnesota Supreme Court in December 2022 granted his request for a new trial, finding that his testimony did not technically meet the legal requirements of the charge to which he pleaded guilty.

Lavalley's family said the decision caused them to lose a lot of faith in the justice system — although they have since regained some trust through the efforts of the jury, judge and St. Louis County prosecutors Bonnie Norlander and Tyler Kenefick.

Family members described an immense emotional toll: physical and mental struggles, missed birthdays and milestones, constant nightmares and general distrust of strangers. Lavalley, they said, was a reserved and non-confrontational person.

Robert Lavalley said a “real man” would never take another's life in an execution-style situation that leaves the victim helpless.

“In my religion I was taught to forgive,” the father said, “but I cannot forgive Bonnell for what he did. »

Norlander emphasized that Bonnell had the right to appeal his conviction, but she said he did not extend the same right to Lavalley. He received a benefit by accepting responsibility in 2019, the prosecutor said, but he will now pay the full price for his lack of accountability.

Defense attorneys Kevin Cornwell and Brittani Mayberry made no arguments, emphasizing the mandatory nature of the sentence. Cornwell said Bonnell's family wanted to attend the sentencing, but was unable to attend Tuesday.

Judge Sullivan thanked Lavalley's family for their statements and asked Bonnell to spend time in prison to think about his decisions.

“It brings me deep sadness at the lack of accountability and responsibility that you have shown,” the judge said, “and the impact that this is having on the (Lavalley) family and, frankly, your own family .”

Sullivan acknowledged that the sentence would do little to “ease the pain and trauma” endured by so many, but expressed hope that the Lavalley family could find “a modicum of peace.”

Tom Olsen has covered crime, courts and the 8th Congressional District for the Duluth News Tribune since 2013. He graduated from the University of Minnesota Duluth and is a lifelong resident of the city. Readers can contact Olsen at 218-723-5333 or [email protected].