2nd person charged in violent Minnetonka carjacking
MINNETONKA, Minn. — A second person faces charges in connection to a violent carjacking over the summer in the driveway of a family's Minnetonka home.
According to charges filed in Hennepin County, 18-year-old Derek Holmes faces one felony count of first-degree carjacking and another felony count of first-degree burglary. He is not in custody and has been charged by warrant.
Holmes is accused of taking part in the violent carjacking on Aug. 17. Surveillance video shows a group of four assaulting a woman before taking the family's Porsche. The group also assaulted her young son.
The thieves later dumped the Porsche Cayenne at a nearby Walgreens.
Romell Roshode Lewis, 21, already faces charges in connection to the incident and has since been taken into custody.
Over the summer, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission voted to make first-degree carjacking a more serious crime than proposed by the legislature. It's now a level 9 offense, which is the same ranking as third-degree murder.
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Penalties for first-degree carjacking will range from about 7 years to about 13 years in prison, depending on someone's criminal history.
The legislature had recommended making first-degree carjackings a level 8 offense, which is the level of armed robberies.
These are Minnesota's first-ever carjacking-specific sentences. It was only this spring that the legislature made carjacking its own crime.
NOTE: Video is from Sept. 19, 2023