Killed by a Vigilante Who Received No Prison Time: The Murder of AJ Stewart
Saint Paul, MN — In the capital city of Minnesota, a middle-aged white man was given no prison time after being convicted of murder for fatally stabbing an unarmed Black man. The 2021 murder of Arnell ‘AJ’ Stewart and the following conviction and sentencing of Brian Kjellberg provides a look at how racial dynamics play a favorable role for certain killers within the criminal justice system.
You may have never heard their names before but the story is a familiar one — the racially charged killing of AJ Stewart, 27, was quickly compared to Trayvon Martin and Ahmaud Arbery. Kjellberg, who was 50 years old at the time, was dubbed “Saint Paul’s version of George Zimmerman, Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William Bryan.” (Zimmerman killed Martin and the McMichaels and Bryan killed Arbery.)
Kjellberg was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder by a jury in March 2023. The guilty verdict was rendered in just 90 minutes following a four-day trial after Ramsey County prosecutors ignored pleas from Stewart’s family and advocates for first-degree murder and hate crimes charges.
Despite the state asking for 12.5 years in prison, Ramsey County Judge Leonardo Castro gave Kjellberg a dispositional departure and sentenced him to 365 days in jail.
Tabatha Lewis, Stewart’s mother, and the family attorney Jeff Storms sat down with Unicorn Riot to share their reactions and thoughts on the killing, the charges, the trial and the sentencing. This report also features each of the trial exhibits, including Kjellberg’s interrogation video and video from an alley camera that shows the deadly attack.
There was little-to-no coverage of AJ Stewart’s murder and Kjellberg’s trial by legacy media outlets. Unicorn Riot published several videos and numerous articles on what happened to AJ – from interviews with AJ’s family to court reporting. See here for our past coverage in link below.
The Murder of AJ Stewart – Full Coverage
View the trial exhibits below and read all the documents in our document vault.
Brian Kjellberg Murders AJ Stewart
On Dec. 2, 2021, AJ Stewart was back in his hometown of Saint Paul visiting family for the Thanksgiving holiday and getting his siblings together to celebrate his mother’s 45th birthday.
While hanging out at a friend’s house, Stewart parked his burgundy Mercedes SUV a few houses up the alley near Flandrau St. and Seventh St., where parking can be limited.
Around 7 p.m. that night, Brian Kjellberg, 50, the owner of a former fire station-turned-residence on the corner of the block, was preparing to go out to meet his girlfriend when he saw a car parked in the alley on what he said was his property.
Kjellberg’s anger boiled over. He had past issues with people parking on what he claimed as his property and said he’d reached his wit’s end. Although Stewart’s vehicle was not blocking Kjellberg’s vehicles and despite an incident like this not happening for six months, Kjellberg said he’d “had enough” and wanted the car ticketed and towed and considered “deflating Mr. Stewart’s tires.”
Kjellberg grabbed a tire deflator from his vehicle and called two tow companies and 911 as he waited outside for the police and the tow trucks with what became the murder weapon in his hand.
Two houses away from Kjellbergs, AJ’s friends were moving their cars from their driveway to make room for their mom’s car. One of them notified Stewart that a man was standing near his car at the end of the alley.
AJ immediately ran out the backdoor of his friend’s place to move his car apologizing and saying “I’m sorry, sir,” to Kjellberg. Kjellberg physically blocked Stewart from getting to his car, yelling “do not step on my property” and “get off my property.”
Following a barrage of apologies by Stewart, Brian Kjellberg stabbed Stewart in the chest with the tire deflator after yelling “I’m not your n*gger.”
Kjellberg said Stewart hit him in the face multiple times before he stabbed him, breaking Stewart’s rib and piercing his heart. Stewart then stumbled to his friends car and then back to his friend’s house where he took his last breaths.
Kjellberg was arrested and charged with second degree unintentional murder. He was bailed out of jail in less than a week.
Kjellberg hired defense attorney Earl Gray and Amanda Montgomery to represent him and pleaded not guilty with a claim of self-defense, bringing the charges to trial. Gray has been practicing law for decades and has defended police in three recent high profile murder cases: Daunte Wright, Philando Castile, and George Floyd.
Convicted of Murder but Given No Prison Time
After a four-day trial in late March 2023, Kjellberg was convicted of second degree unintentional murder by a jury that deliberated less than two hours. [Read the transcripts from each day of the trial below.]
Earl Gray immediately filed motions for a new trial and a Schwartz hearing. Gray claimed the Black foreman of the jury was “racist against white people.” The motions were denied after hearings were held.
During the sentencing on May 31, 2023, Kjellberg was given a dispositional departure and ordered to jail for 365 days, which amounted to eight months with good time in jail as he served two-thirds of his sentence. Kjellberg was released in January 2024.
Judge Castro said Kjellberg’s medical needs and lack of a criminal record led him to bypass recommendations from the state of 150 months in prison. Kjellberg professes he’s 100% disabled from his time working on boilers in ships in the U.S. Navy and that he had a traumatic brain injury (TBI) from getting beat up at a bar in August 2020.
The sentencing hearing was a tense and emotional one, with AJ’s mother giving a victim’s impact statement to the court and then yelling at Kjellberg to “get the fuck up out of here” and tell his lies “to somebody else” as he started his statement. Read the transcript of the sentencing hearing on May 31, 2023, below.
After the sentencing, the Ramsey County Attorney Office’s spokesperson told Unicorn Riot that it was “painful” to see AJ’s family “not get the justice they wanted” but it was the judges decision and they must accept it.
“Both Ramsey County prosecutors and probation officials recommended a 150 month prison sentence as proscribed by the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines for the jury’s verdict in this case. As painful as it is for us to see the victims in this case not get the justice they wanted, we must accept the judge’s decision because it his decision alone to make. Our hearts go out to the family and friends of Arnell Jermel Stewart who lost his life to a senseless act of violence on December 2, 2021.”
Prosecutors ultimately filed an appeal of the sentence and as of mid-September 2024, are awaiting a ruling.
Immediately after the sentencing, AJ’s mother, Tabatha said that she felt the courts and media “held my son’s case disclosed deliberately so they can praise this man and make him look like he did not just senselessly just kill my son for no reason.”
Despite the lenient sentence, Kjellberg appealed his conviction and six months into serving his sentence, Kjellberg was back in front of Judge Castro with his appeals attorney Melvin Welch, asking to be released from jail to fight his appeal.
During the November 2023 hearing, Welch noted that Kjellberg was “knocked unconscious” during his second day in jail and had been put into a separation unit for his safety because he was “recognized.” Castro denied Kjellberg’s motion, noting that the prior sentencing order he’d given Kjellberg had already been called “not fair.”
The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled on Kjellberg’s appeal and affirmed his conviction on September 3, 2024. Read the ruling below.
In January 2024, civil rights attorney Jeff Storms filed a $50,000 wrongful death suit against Brian Kjellberg on behalf of Tabatha.
The Murder Trial Exhibits
Over 100 items were introduced as evidence in Brian Kjellberg’s murder trial. Unicorn Riot obtained access to all of the trial exhibits and is publishing them in the public interest, along with dozens of court documents and all of the hearing and trial transcripts. View them all in our document vault.
Alley Camera Captures Murder [Video]
One of the main exhibits in the trial was from a camera in the alley that recorded audio and video of the incident, albeit not very clearly. The state also presented a transcript of the video (some of the wording in the state’s transcript differs from our captions in the short film above).
Police Interview Kjellberg in Back of Squad Car [Video]
A short time after Kjellberg fatally stabbed Stewart, Saint Paul Police (SPPD) officers arrested him and placed him in the backseat of a squad car. An 8-minute clip of video from Officer Chad Brouwer’s Body-Worn Camera taken from 8:07 p.m. was shown to the jury.
The video starts with officer Brouwer reading Kjellberg his rights. Kjellberg then explains his version of events to Brouwer. Read the transcript and watch the video of the interview below.
‘I’m at end,’ Kjellberg Interrogated in Homicide Room [Video – Hidden Camera]
After murdering AJ Stewart, Kjellberg was brought in for questioning by the police. In an interrogation by Sgt. Daniel Zebro in what’s titled on the video as homicide room number three, Kjellberg revealed that he killed Stewart because as he said, “I’m at end,” over past parking incidents on his property.
Watch the one hour and fifteen minute-long video from a hidden police camera inside a clock and read the transcript below.
The Murder Trial Transcripts
Day 1 – March 27, 2023
The first day of Kjellberg’s murder trial was focused on jury questionnaires and questioning. Read the court clerk minutes here and the transcript below.
Day 2 – March 28, 2023
Jury selection was wrapped up by afternoon time of the second day. Opening statements were made by the state and defense and the state called its first witness, Tabatha Lewis. Ramsey County’s assistant medical examiner and the manager of Ramsey County Emergency Communications Center also testified. Read the court clerk minutes here and the transcript below.
Day 3 – March 29, 2023
The third day of the trial featured the testimonies of ten people. AJ’s friends and their mother that tended to him as he died in their house after being stabbed by Kjellberg, testified, along with another neighbor. Five SPPD officers and a tow truck driver were all brought before the court to provide testimony before court was finished for the day. Read the court clerk minutes here and the transcript below.
Day 4 – March 30, 2023
Day four of the trial started where day three left off, quickly finishing the testimony of an SPPD officer. The state rested their case at 9:17 in the morning and the defense began their case-in-chief by having Kjellberg take the stand. Three character witnesses testified after Kjellberg and after lunch both closing arguments were made. Jury deliberations started around 2:00 p.m. and lasted less than two hours before arriving at a guilty verdict. Read the court clerk minutes here and the transcript below.
911 Calls and Photo Exhibits
Two calls by Kjellberg to law enforcement during the night of Dec. 2, 2021, were admitted into evidence during the trial, one before Kjellberg murdered Stewart and one directly after. Two other 911 calls were played during the trial, both from the house where Stewart was visiting and where he stumbled back to after being stabbed.
Listen to all four calls and read the transcripts presented during the trial here.
Dozens of pictures were admitted into evidence during the trial, ranging from autopsy images of Stewart to the murder weapon, the scene of the killing and of Kjellberg.
View the images presented during the trial here.
AJ Stewart’s Mother Shares Her Story
“AJ was a father figure to his siblings,” said Tabatha Lewis who shared some of the pain that her and her family have been left to manage after the murder of her first son. A graduate of Saint Paul’s Highland Park High School in 2012, AJ Stewart was 27 when he was killed.
She had AJ as a teenager and said despite going through turmoil, AJ had a “kind heart” and was a “positive person” with “aspirations and desires and goals in life.” He was her “little junior leading her,” she said.
His infectious, positive spirit and energy never allowed her and her children to feel bad — AJ was always looking out for them.
If you were having a bad day, stressed out, or in the middle of a heated conversation, AJ would pull out all the stops to make you smile and alter your mindset to positive things. “AJ would do the most silliest thing under the sun,” Tabatha said. He’d sing a song, pull on your pinky toe, dig in your ear, hang around your neck, or do whatever to get you to start laughing.
“My son was everything to us. He was everything to me. Having him was beyond a blessing from God.”
Since AJ’s murder, Lewis has suffered financial hardships and multiple health scares related to the stress, including at least two heart attacks. An online fundraising campaign has been ongoing to help support Tabatha and is nearing its goal. Watch her interview in our film.
Since the immediate days after the murder, Tabatha and community advocates were pushing for justice for AJ and more serious charges against Kjellberg. See our recap of a December 2021 press conference featuring AJ’s family and community leaders below.
In the lead-up to Kjellberg’s murder trial, AJ’s cousin, Poet Laureate of San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin, sat down with Unicorn Riot for an exclusive interview about the racial politics of Stewart’s murder.
Find all Unicorn Riot coverage on the murder of AJ Stewart here.
Cover image by Sean Summers for Unicorn Riot.
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