“At a time when this city needs a response to the existential threat of violence, Richard Grundy, public enemy No. 1, was sentenced to life in federal prison,” Minkler said.

Grundy, who has been implicated in at least ten violent deaths, never went to trial. He was arrested seven times on serious gun and drug charges but was convicted only of five misdemeanors and one low-level felony.

Minkler celebrated the life sentence, but admitted that justice didn’t happen overnight.

“This is as big a win as our criminal justice system has had in this city in the last 25 years,” said Minkler.

Following a series of killings in 2014, Grundy and others were charged with murder in Marion County, but the case fell apart. That allowed Grundy to plead guilty to minor drug charges and declare his innocence in 2017.

“They was trying to make something fit that wasn’t there,” said Grundy in 2017.