Sentence Announced In Inver Grove Heights Home Invasion Case

INVER GROVE HEIGHTS, MN — Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom announced that Semaji Jamal Clemons, 30, was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison in connection with a home invasion where a mother and her son were assaulted in Inver Grove Heights.

Clemons — a Inver Grove Heights resident — pled guilty April 17 to one count each of attempted murder in the second degree and burglary in the first degree. The charge of assault in the first degree was dismissed, according to a news release.

On July 19, 2019 around 3 p.m., officers responded to a home on a report of an assault. At the home, officers heard a woman crying in a back bedroom. Blood was on the floor.

As they approached, Clemons exited the bedroom. He had blood on his pants and shoes.

The woman told police that Clemons entered her residence and went into her son’s bedroom. He grabbed her son by the neck and brought him into the room she was in. Clemons assaulted both of them, punching them in the head several times.

Her son told police Clemons repeatedly told them both "you’re going to die." The son ran to a neighbor to get help and returned with a box cutter and tried to use it to get Clemons away from his mother.

Clemons took the box cutter and used it to inflict the injuries to the woman.

"We are pleased to have brought this man to justice for this egregious crime," Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom said in a statement. Backstrom extended his continuing hope for recovery and healing to this mother and son.