Winona murder conviction upheld by Minnesota Supreme Court

The shooter convicted of killing a local musician outside a Winona bar in 2016 lost his appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court. 

Ricky Waiters is serving a 40-year prison term for killing musician Robert Johnson and wounding a second man on the street near E.B.’s Corner Bar. 

Waiters allegedly started shooting toward the bar after he got into a fight over a parking space. 

The high court decided that Winona prosecutor Karin Sonneman did not act improperly in asking the jury to ignore emotional appeals by the defense at the Waiters trial. 

Justices also ruled that the evidence supported arguments that Waiters deliberately fired his gun toward people standing outside the bar.