Ta’Shawn Burks often walked to see friends and family, finding joy in those quiet, simple moments, his mother told the court Monday.

Burks was doing just that on July 11, 2023, in St. Paul’s Summit-University, when, “in an instant, everything changed,” Tamera Burks, his mother, said.

As the 31-year-old was crossing Concordia Avenue at Dale Street around 9:45 p.m., Abdirahman Ali Hassan saw a yellow light, gunned his sedan and plowed into him at 77 mph. Burks, of St. Paul, died at the scene.

“Since that day, our family has been left shattered,” his mother said at Hassan’s sentencing.

Judge DeAnne Hilgers gave Hassan, 21, of St. Paul, a 364-day term in the workhouse, a sentence that’s more than double what had been agreed upon as part of an April plea agreement.

After his plea to crimin

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