The Progressive Prosecutors Movement Faces an Unexpected Challenge — From a Democrat

Over the past several years, dozens of counties across the US have elected prosecutors who have campaigned for criminal justice reform. These so-called “progressive prosecutors” argued that seeking the maximum punishment was not always the fairest response to a crime.

As progressive prosecutors have gained ground in elections, Republicans have worked to override the will of the voters. and strip these prosecutors of their power, or even remove them from their positions. Now the movement of progressive prosecutors faces an unexpected challenge: Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D), a former co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who calls himself the “town attorneyand said in a 2021 interview that the “lock them up…” system had its chance and has turned out to be ineffective.”

Earlier this month, Ellison took over a case from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty over her decision to offer the two teenage brothers accused of killing a 23-year-old woman plea deals that they would keep them in the juvenile system instead of prosecuting the children. like adults. It was an impressive move by Ellison, who had backed up Moriarty when he ran for county attorney last year, and criticized his Republican opponent during his re-election campaign for threatening to dodge it. By taking charge of the prosecution of the case, Ellison is taking a rare step for a democrat — following in the footsteps of republicans around the US that have limited the power of democratically elected prosecutors as insufficiently punitive.

Ellison said in a statement that the governor’s power to assign cases to the attorney general “should be used very sparingly” and that he “did not expect to make a request like that again.” His office declined to provide additional comment.

Moriarty, a former Hennepin County chief public defender who ran on a platform of police accountability and restorative justice, won the election for county chief prosecutor on November 8, 2022. That same day, 23-year-old Zaria McKeever , received a fatal shot. at her home in Brooklyn Park, a city northwest of Minneapolis.

In the weeks before McKeever’s death, she had been threatened and harassed by Erick Haynes, her ex-boyfriend and the father of her young son, prosecutors said. According to prosecutors, Haynes provided the brothers, ages 15 and 17, with a gun to scare McKeever’s new boyfriend at her apartment. But once inside, the children were met by McKeever, who was holding a knife, one of the children said. The younger boy shot McKeever multiple times, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors charged Haynes and the two teenagers, whom HuffPost is not naming because they are under 18, of second degree murder Moriarty’s predecessor, Mike Freeman, moved to certify the two teenagers as adults so they could be tried in the adult system and receive a long prison sentence if convicted. But after Moriarty took office in January, he offered the boys a plea deal in juvenile court in exchange for testifying against Haynes. The deal offered a hybrid sentence: two years in juvenile prison with an extended probation period until they turned 21. If they violated probation, they would be subject to an adult prison sentence.

The plea was the fulfillment of one of Moriarty’s wishes. promises to reduce the frequency with which the prosecutor’s office sought to transfer children to the adult system. That promise is backed by science, which shows that brain development continues into the mid-20s. As a result, teens are more impulsive, susceptible to peer pressure, and less able to weigh long-term consequences. For the past 20 years, the Supreme Court has outlawed the harshest punishment of juveniles, citing neurological research and children’s ability to grow and change.

“We are following the science”, Moriarty told the local NBC affiliate in March. “As I said in the campaign, we must treat children as children. Children are not just little adults. Their brains are not as developed. They are subjected to peer pressure, risky behavior, manipulation by adults, that’s what happened here.”

“And they can be rehabilitated because their brains aren’t fully developed. And we also know that when we send kids to prison, they’re going to get out at a fairly young age, they’re going to be traumatized, and they’re going to be at a greater risk to public safety,” he continued.

McKeever’s parents opposed the plea offer, which they described as a painful betrayal. “She was very special and her life was just beginning,” Paul Greer, McKeever’s stepfather, said the Tribune of the Stars. “We think there are some (teenagers) who can be rehabilitated, but they didn’t just steal cars. They stole a life, and we are paying the penalty for it for the rest of our lives.”

ellison appeared with McKeever’s family at a Minneapolis temple on April 5, calling Moriarty’s offer “inappropriate.” The next day, Ellison asked Gov. Tim Walz (D) to assign the prosecution of anyone involved in McKeever’s death to his office, citing opposition to Moriarty’s decision by McKeever’s family and the police union. In his letter, Ellison acknowledged that prosecutors are chosen by voters to make tough decisions, but said Moriarty “is wrong” in this case.

Ellison also acknowledged that the 17-year-old had already pleaded guilty “and it’s probably too late to change that.” But the 15-year-old’s plea hearing was scheduled for the next day. after the governor delivered the case for Ellison, the 15-year-old’s case was delayed.

Ellison’s move is unprecedented in Minnesota, Moriarty said in a statement, noting that there was precedent in the state for prosecuting a juvenile for homicide without seeking adult certification. Ellison’s decision “threatens the very core of a local prosecutor’s well-established discretion and role as an elected official accountable to the people to prosecute crime in the county,” she added.

“We have approached this case trying to balance the need for justice, the need for accountability, and the fact that we have a 10th grader who can be held in the juvenile system or locked up with people three times his size and which are three times larger. his age,” Moriarty said. “Our decisions were not easy, but we stand by them.”

Ellison is currently promoting his book, marketed as a “powerful and intimate test diaryabout his prosecution of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, whose 2020 killing of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests against police brutality. In the book, “Ellison examines the roles of prosecutors, defendants, police union leaders, judges, activists, legislators, politicians, and media figures, each as they try to put an end to this chain of violence and replace it with empathy and a shared vision. ” according to the description of the book.