Open Letter to Walz and Ellison: The Takeover of McKeever Case is Just Plain Wrong

By COMMUNITIES UNITED AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY (CUAPB)

Reprinted with permission.

Dear Governor Walz and Attorney General Ellison:
Our organization protests, in the strongest possible terms, the Attorney General’s takeover of the prosecution of the McKeever case. This case involves the manipulation of two teens, ages 15 and 17, by an adult into committing a heinous crime. According to media accounts, the reason given for this takeover was that the decision to offer the teens plea deals for their testimony against the adult, was “so far outside the normal course for the prosecution of such a heinous crime, and so far outside of community expectations.”
It is routine for prosecutors to offer plea agreements to defendants who are deemed less culpable by age, mental capacity or role in the crime in exchange for their testimony. These kinds of plea deals are not “far outside the normal course for the prosecution” but are standard practice for prosecutors.
The decision to offer plea arrangements to the two teens is also not “outside of community expectations.” Hennepin County residents elected Ms. Moriarty by an overwhelming margin specifically because she would correct the harms of the past under Mike Freeman and Amy Klobuchar. During their tenures, the numbers of Black men and boys placed in the prison system from Hennepin County increased by 300%.… Read the rest “Open Letter to Walz and Ellison: The Takeover of McKeever Case is Just Plain Wrong”