A woman was spared prison Monday and sentenced to probation for aiding a man accused in a fatal shooting 3½ years ago at a Minneapolis gas station.

Yalayna R. Butcher-Griffin, 25, of Oakdale was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court to three years' probation and given credit for the nearly six months she spent in jail after pleading guilty to aiding an offender after the fact in connection with the shooting of 19-year-old George F. Zeon of Plymouth on May 6, 2021, at the Amstar gas station on W. Broadway between James and Knox avenues.

If she abides by the terms of probation, Butcher-Griffin's conviction can be reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Butcher-Griffin's sentence also includes an agreement by her to cooperate with the prosecution and testify truthfully against the accused shooter, 21-year-old Albert J. Lucas of St. Paul, who was 17 years old at the time of the shooting and has been charged in adult court with second-degree murder. He remains jailed in lieu of $1 million bail ahead of a Dec. 9 court date.

Lucas is also charged with second-degree murder stemming from a mass shooting from February near Chicago and Franklin avenues in south Minneapolis that killed Pierre Romel Miller, 34, of Brooklyn Park and wounded three others. Lucas is the fourth suspect ranging in age from 20 to 29 now charged in connection with the crime.

According to criminal complaint from the 2021 killing:

Surveillance video showed a vehicle pull up to Zeon as he pumped gas. Two males left the vehicle, entered the store, came out and confronted Zeon, whose girlfriend was with him.

She told police the suspects were asking Zeon about being in a gang, which confused her.

Lucas drew a handgun and shot Zeon in the head and elsewhere. The two males fled in their vehicle, with Butcher-Griffin driving. Nearly two weeks later, police found her driving the same vehicle. Butcher-Griffin picked out Lucas as the shooter from a police photo lineup.

Police spotted Lucas in a vehicle in Minnetonka and arrested him. A loaded handgun was seized near where he had been sitting.