Two Harbors Man Pleads Guilty to Duluth Murder

DULUTH - The Two Harbors man accused of stabbing a Duluth man to death at the victim's Central Hillside apartment in December of 2012 pleaded guilty Thursday to intentional second-degree murder.

Raymond Charles Weeks, 42, entered the plea in St. Louis County District Court.

Kevin John Tyman, 54, died in a Duluth hospital on Dec. 21, 2012, hours after sustaining a single stab wound that lacerated his liver.

As part of his plea agreement, Weeks agreed to serve a guideline sentence of 30 years in prison. In exchange for his guilty plea, the county attorney's office will not seek a first-degree murder indictment against the defendant.

Weeks' co-defendant, Joella Lee Tucker, 32, of Duluth pleaded guilty earlier this month to aiding and abetting second-degree murder for her role in Tyman's death.

Tucker implicated Weeks at her plea hearing when she told the court that she saw him stab Tyman in the abdomen.

She said Weeks told her that the victim "would bleed out in five minutes," after he stabbed him.

Among the evidence gathered in the case by Duluth police was DNA from the suspected murder weapon that was analyzed by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

Weeks' DNA could not be excluded as a contributor of the DNA, but 85.9 percent of the population could be excluded.

Both defendants were prosecuted by Assistant St. Louis County Attorneys Kristen E. Swanson and Chris Pinkert.