Sentencing Thursday afternoon for one of two men charged in the death of a St. Paul hockey coach.
Ta Mla pleaded guilty last month to aiding and abetting second-degree murder in connection to the shooting death of Michael Brasel who was killed outside his home in May.
Mla was among a group of people breaking into cars when Brasel confronted them. It was then that 17-year-old Kle Swee shot and killed the 44-year-old husband and father of two just feet from his front door.
Cell phone data connected Mla to the scene. He was arrested during a June traffic stop and was found with a handgun, which he admitted was the one that was used to kill Brasel.
Brasel's wife Hilary spoke in court during in October as Kle Swee was sentenced to 25 years for the murder.
"That day I lost my husband but more importantly I lost my best friend," Hilary Brasel said. "I no longer have my soulmate and the man who had loved me for 23 years. I no longer have the man who gave me his last name, gave me our two boys, and the man who's my ultimate version of home."
Brasel was the father of two sons and a head coach for a Roseville Area Youth Hockey team one of his sons played on.