By Matt McKinney

He was a notorious gangster well-known to Minneapolis police, a man who shot someone four times in a drive-by shooting earlier this year. But now Paris Patton sits in jail awaiting an expected prison sentence of more than 12 years.

His case, one of dozens prosecuted under a new city effort to put away armed career criminals, was held up by public officials Wednesday as an example of the tough stance they've taken after a wave of homicides earlier this year threatened to push up city crime rates.

"That's a person who we've seen over and over again, and now he's gone," said Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.

Patton, a heavyset, dreadlocked man of 23 who police said was linked to several murders, was arrested this past summer shortly after a press conference at which Mayor R.T. Rybak, Freeman and U.S. Attorney B. Todd Jones pledged to work with police to put away repeat offenders under a program they called Project Exile.

A rise in violent crime earlier this year had public officials searching for answers, Rybak said. Unlike a crime wave four years ago that led to a renewed focus on juvenile crime, this time the focus was on people in their 20s and 30s who were repeat, armed criminals, he said.

"We recognized we needed to have a community-wide effort to focus on very few, very violent offenders who too often were disturbing the peace in our community," Rybak said.

Going federal, getting tougher

County and federal prosecutors now meet every other week to review cases, Freeman said. About 10 percent of the cases go to federal courts, where stiffer penalties for illegal gun possession allow for minimum prison terms of 15 years for some suspects.

County prosecutors have looked at some 75 cases, including Patton's, and another eight cases were sent to federal court.

If at least three of a suspect's past felony convictions are for crimes of violence or serious drug offenses, they're classified as an "armed career criminal" under federal statutes and face minimum 15-year prison sentences, Jones said.

"It's a work in progress," he said of Project Exile.

Project Exile cases sent to federal court so far include that of Jeff Parker, 38, of Minneapolis, accused of having a 12-gauge shotgun in his possession earlier this year. His criminal record of armed robbery, third-degree assault and second-degree attempted sale of a controlled substance means that a conviction for shotgun possession would mean a 15-year prison term, at least.

Off the street

"What we're trying to do is take those people who use guns, and who have a history of using guns, and make sure they're off the street for the longest possible time," Freeman said.

This year began with a series of homicides, including a triple killing at the Seward Market, that quickly put Minneapolis well ahead of 2009's homicide pace. There have been fewer killings in recent months. The last person shot to death in the city was Timothy Wayne Wilson Jr., a 28-year-old man found Sept. 25 on the 2400 block of N. 4th Street. He had been shot in the head.

"Things have gone down very nicely since June," said Minneapolis Police Chief Tim Dolan, who appeared with several other public officials Wednesday to report on their progress with locking up hardened criminals. Violent crimes that involve guns have fallen by 23 percent since June, he added.