Star Tribune
AG Ellison declines to take over Hennepin murder case after victim’s family objects to plea deal
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is declining to intervene in a murder case after the victim’s family asked him and Gov. Tim Walz to remove the case from Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty following a proposed plea deal that would keep one of the defendants out of prison.
The family of Stephen Markey say Moriarty is wrong to offer Husayn Braveheart less than a year of workhouse incarceration and probation for the deadly 2019 carjacking of Stephen Markey in Minneapolis. Braveheart, was 15 at the time. The other defendant, Jered Ohsman, was 17 and is serving 22 years in prison. Earlier this year, Walz and Ellison removed a murder case from Moriarty over similar objections to a similar plea deal offered to a juvenile offender in a murder case, but Ellison said then that he didn’t anticipate making a rare decision like that again. He reiterated that stance in a statement to the Star Tribune.
“County attorneys are elected to exercise their judgment about how to secure safety and justice in their communities. The Attorney General’s defined role in criminal prosecution is primarily to step in and assist when county attorneys request our assistance, and in extremely rare occasions, when the Governor assigns a case, “Ellison said. “I said earlier this year that I did not expect to ask the Governor to any assign future criminal cases from county attorneys to me. While I am reluctant to say more now because I have not yet had the opportunity to meet in person with the Markey family, that remains my intention today. Ultimately, all elected officials, including county attorneys, are accountable to voters for their decisions.”
A spokesperson for Walz declined to comment.
The Markey family continues circulating an online petition to stop the plea from happening ahead of Braveheart’s sentencing next month. They are furious and frustrated that probation is on the table after years of being told that prosecutors would seek an appropriate sentence for the slaying of Markey, a 39-year-old paralegal from Plymouth.
Markey was shot in broad daylight June 11, 2019, in northeast Minneapolis. Ohsman pled guilty to second-degree murder in 2020 and admitted to firing the fatal shot.
Markey’s family says Braveheart, now 20, who is charged with first-degree aggravated robbery and aiding and abetting second-degree murder, orchestrated the carjacking and also shot Markey. They don’t understand the disparate treatment of the two suspects. Markey’s mother and sister are both attorneys.
“If I can’t get justice for my brother, let’s be honest … I have resources. I understand the system. If I can’t get the right outcome for my murdered brother — who was also involved in the legal system— who can?” Susan Markey said.
Ohsman was certified to stand trial as an adult. Meanwhile, Braveheart’s case made its way all the way to the Minnesota Supreme Court over arguments of whether the case should stay in juvenile court. In November, justices ruled he should also be tried as an adult.
The Markeys feel like Moriarty is going against the state’s highest court by offering Braveheart probation.
Moriarty has defended her decision by using the science of adolescent brain development and the progress Braveheart has shown in the past four years of being incarcerated.
She wants Braveheart to serve up to one year in the county workhouse with five years of probation. The court could impose the same sentence as Ohsman’s if he violates probation.
When news broke of the offer in July, Moriarty in a press conference said Braveheart has been “extraordinarily responsive to the carefully selected treatment.” She reiterated that in a statement Monday.
“If we disrupt that progress, we will jeopardize public safety and risk everything when he comes back to the community. We cannot take that risk,” Moriarty said.
The plea offer shocked Markey’s family. They were informed on a Friday in July ahead of a plea scheduled for the following Monday. They immediately demanded a meeting with Moriarty and requested a continuance.
Prosecutors never filed a motion for a continuance. But District Judge Michael Burns allowed it, noting how upset the family was and the last-minute notification prevented everyone from attending the plea hearing.
Braveheart pleaded guilty in August. The family is asking Burns to reject the plea agreement at Braveheart’s sentencing Oct. 23.
“I do think that it’s very unethical,” Susan Markey said of the 11th-hour change. “And taking off my lawyer hat and putting on, like, my sister and family hat, it’s also just a really, really mean way to treat people… It’s piling on in a way that’s really cruel.”
The family has been in touch with the family of Zaria McKeever, who was gunned down in her Brooklyn Park home last November. McKeever’s ex-boyfriend is accused of enlisting two teenage brothers, then ages 15 and 17, and the younger one allegedly fired the fatal shots.
Prosecutors wanted the teens to stand trial for second-degree murder as adults. But in February, Moriarty abruptly changed course, offering a plea deal that would spare them a lengthy adult prison sentence.
The older boy accepted the plea, but before the younger brother could do so — and after weeks of mounting pressure by McKeever’s family — Ellison asked Walz to intervene. Moriarty then blasted Ellison’s intervention, saying state officials undermined her authority by making an “undemocratic” decision that set a dangerous precedent.
The teen’s case, which remains confidential in juvenile court, is ongoing.
It’s exceptionally rare for the attorney general to take a case from any county attorney, which can only be done at the request of the county attorney or if the governor steps in. McKeever was the second time since the 1990s that the governor has intervened.
Susan Markey said in response to Ellison and Walz not stepping in that she is disappointed but not surprised.
“It’s horrifying what they are doing to us. The whole thing is shameful. They should be ashamed and embarrassed. They are not worthy of representing the state of Minnesota.”
A judge acquitted a 37-year-old man of threatening to harm St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and Maplewood Mall and concluded that the defendant’s intention was to buy the shopping center and run for mayor.
Andrew Thomas Grzywinski, of St. Paul, was found not guilty late Thursday afternoon by Ramsey County District Judge John Guthmann on two counts of threats of violence.
The suspicion took root when Grzywinski sent a former girlfriend a text on Dec. 27, 2022, showing an assault-style gun on a window ledge, with a message that read, “Maplewood Mall is my idea, and Mayor of St. Paul is an end goal,” according to the charges filed in December 2022.
The woman alerted Woodbury police because Grzywinski was staying at a hotel in that city. A Woodbury police investigator said Grzywinski had been hospitalized Dec. 15-22, 2022, in Pensacola, Fla., “on a mental health hold,” the charges read, and a doctor there said Grzywinski’s threats should be taken seriously.
Woodbury police then notified their counterparts in Maplewood and St. Paul, leading to his arrest and charges.
In returning his verdicts in writing, Guthmann said, “The text message does not state or imply a threat to commit an act of violence. There is nothing expressly or impliedly threatening about the words ‘Maplewood is my idea,’ and the existence of a gun in the background of a panorama photo of a hotel room containing many other objects does not reasonably change the character of those words.”
The judge continued, “To conclude that defendant’s text was intended as an express or implied threat to the Maplewood Mall or anyone inside is entirely speculative and without support in the evidence.”
Guthmann’s filing noted that Grzywinski, who owns his own heating and cooling business, was not mulling or making any threats against the mall or the mayor but had been telling various people close to him that he wanted to buy the mall and run for mayor.
Star Tribune
Critics say Duluth judicial candidate fought improvements to domestic violence work as city attorney
Johnson said this week he felt a victim advocate position was important, but needed to “ask the hard questions” first.
“You have to be careful of what you take on,” he said, when potentially adding employees, considering potential future budget cuts. “I explore all options before jumping into something and that’s what we did with that position.”
After Holtberg’s phone call with Johnson, she said she sought advice from others and brought the opportunity and Johnson’s initial response to former Mayor Emily Larson. Larson confirmed this week that she then directed Johnson to apply for the grant. Funding was awarded to the city, and the position remains grant-funded today. Johnson said he doesn’t think Larson told him to apply, but said her administration was part of the discussion.
“We got it done, and we got it done in a way that’s stuck with the city,” he said. “Just because you ask hard questions doesn’t mean that it’s bad … that’s what I do, and as judge I’ll ask hard questions.”
Retired city prosecutor Mary Asmus said recently that Johnson told her at the time that if that position was added, he would probably need to dismiss someone from the office’s criminal division. This was at a time when criminal caseloads were high, she said. Johnson said he doesn’t recall saying that, but noted that grant funding isn’t guaranteed to last, inevitably affecting budgets and staffing.
“I don’t think he understood the importance of a victim services coordinator to the prosecution of a domestic violence case,” Asmus said, and “he was the first Duluth City Attorney in four decades who had never prosecuted criminal cases for our office.”
The DFL candidate for a Roseville seat in the Minnesota House is pushing back on allegations from his Republican opponent that he doesn’t live in the district he hopes to represent.
Curtis Johnson is currently a member of the Roseville Area Schools board. He has owned a home in Little Canada since 2017, according to Ramsey County property records.
In May he filed to run for the open seat in House District 40B, saying he lived in an apartment complex less than 3 miles from his Little Canada home. The district includes parts of Roseville and Shoreview and has been represented by DFLer Jamie Becker-Finn, who isn’t seeking re-election, since 2017.
In a statement, Johnson said he and his wife decided to move to Roseville last year, but they’ve struggled to find the right house. In the meantime, he’s been renting “a Roseville apartment as my primary residence while we keep searching for a forever home.”
“My wife and our youngest child still live in the house because we didn’t want to disrupt our child’s life by moving the rest of the family into my apartment and then moving them again after we found a house in Roseville,” Johnson’s statement said.
Wikstrom released an ad Oct. 15 that accused Johnson of lying about his residency, but he has not committed to making a legal challenge. A residency challenge would be decided by the Minnesota Supreme Court.
“My confidence level is high that we have a solid case he is not a resident of the district,” Wikstrom said in an interview. He noted that Johnson’s vehicle is often at the Little Canada home and a portable storage container appeared out front days after his political ad went online.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings