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Murder victim’s family speaks out over plea deal with no prison
Steve Markey, 39, was killed when two teen suspects tried to carjack him in June 2019. One defendant received 21 years in prison, the other could receive probation.
MINNEAPOLIS — A proposed plea deal in Hennepin County has a murder victim’s family speaking out.
Steve Markey was shot to death four years ago, as two teens allegedly tried to carjack him. One teenage suspect received 21 years in prison. The other, if the plea goes through, will receive probation.
Markey’s family says they didn’t learn of the proposed plea deal from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office until Friday, and the plea was supposed to go through at a Monday morning hearing.
But at Monday’s hearing, Judge Michael Burns delayed the plea until Friday Aug. 4, at which point he’ll allow them to speak in court before suspect Husayn Braveheart pleads.
Steve Markey was a paralegal who worked for his mom, criminal defense attorney Catherine Markey.
“I always say he was my fun child. So that’s always nice to have someone fun in your office,” Catherine said.
The 39-year-old who specialized in helping low-level offenders get their records expunged was growing his hair out for Locks of Love when he was killed in June 2019 in Northeast Minneapolis.
“We always say we wish we all were shot. It would have been better if they shot us too, than to live without him,” his sister Susan Markey said.
Jared Ohsman, who was 16 at the time, was certified as an adult, pleaded guilty to murder in 2020, and was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
But the Markey family learned Friday that Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty is offering a plea deal to Husayn Braveheart, who’s now 20, but was 15 when charged with murder.
Under the proposed deal, he would receive five years probation with a suspended prison sentence hanging over his head if he violates the terms.
“She repeatedly told us he is a different person than the person that murdered my brother, which is one of the most insulting things I’ve ever heard because we are all different people in a fundamental and horrible way that I hope no one else has to experience,” Susan said.
“I feel very much for the family. I talked to them at great length on Friday. I felt their anger, I felt their grief – and – my job is to listen to them but ultimately do what is in the best interest of public safety,” Moriarty said.
Braveheart’s case has been delayed for the last four years as it was appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which ruled he should be certified as an adult.
Moriarty says that in those four years, Braveheart has turned his life around by receiving programming while incarcerated.
“It’s really important that we not disrupt that progress in that treatment, and I think that’s in the best interest of public safety,” Moriarty said.
Moriarty says sending Braveheart to prison would ultimately be a bigger threat to public safety once he’s released than continuing treatment while on probation because the Minnesota Department of Corrections would not be able to offer the same kind of rehabilitation treatment that was ordered by a judge during Braveheart’s certification hearings.
But Markey’s mom and sister — both attorneys robbed of a life with Steve — don’t believe the public will be safer with one of Steve’s alleged killers released.
“If you can get to be a killer at age 15, you don’t magically become someone else a few years later,” Catherine said.
According to the criminal complaint, Braveheart fired at Markey but it was a shot fired by his co-defendant, Jared Ohsman, that killed him.
The attorneys for the public defender’s office representing Braveheart said in a statement: “This plea agreement reflects the specific facts of this case, our client’s extraordinary efforts towards rehabilitation, and well-established evidence on adolescent brain science.”
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The board said performances and classes will cease with the theater’s closure at the end of October.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis theater community was dealt a huge blow Friday after it was announced a popular improv performance space will close next month.
Managing director of Uptown’s HUGE Improv Theater, Sean Dillon, confirmed the news to KARE 11 Friday afternoon. Dillon said performances and classes will cease with the theater’s closure at the end of October. A Facebook post published by the theater chalked up the reasons for the decision as “complex, but they ultimately boil down to money.”
“The Board has concluded that, after a series of expected and unexpected challenges, cash flow just cannot sustain the work HUGE was set out to accomplish,” the post reads.
But while the theater maintains the closure comes amid financial troubles, some members of the community believe the closure is related to the resignation of the theater’s co-founder Butch Roy and artistic director Becky Hauser last month. The resignations came after it was alleged the theater whitewashed casting for an upcoming show. The theater’s co-executive and inclusion director, John Gebretatose, went on to write an open letter, questioning the theater’s commitment to diversity among its performers.
Following the resignations, the board released a statement on its website, saying it was “in the process of developing a plan to ensure we reflect our ideal that improv is for everyone.”
The HUGE Improv Theater Board also denied the rumors in its social media post Friday.
“We want to be emphatically clear: the open letter raising concerns about diversity on HUGE’s stage is not the reason for this closure,” the post said. “HUGE was already in a precarious financial situation, and there simply isn’t a viable way forward.
“Our struggle to find sufficient stable funding in no way diminishes the amazing work that HUGE has produced and supported over the years, and more importantly the diverse and enthusiastic community it has fostered.
“We know work still lies ahead to ensure that improv in the Twin Cities is truly a space for everyone, and we look to our community to continue these vital and challenging conversations.”
Co-founder Jill Bernard, who began improv in 1993, is grateful to have helped take the Minneapolis improv scene to new heights.
“When I started improv in 1993, there were very few women, there were very BIPOC performers, and we’ve sort of changed everything that’s possible for people to really hear and use their own voices on stage,” Bernard said. “And I feel like HUGE was a big part of that.”
The theater said it plans to run its shows through October as planned, as well as its fall term classes. The board encouraged the community to support performers and “participate in the life of the theater to the fullest extent you can.”
“There will be more to share as we move forward, but for now: thank you all for everything you have given to this place, and for always being the beating heart of what makes HUGE HUGE.”
A Shorewood woman died Friday after being hit by a truck while crossing the street.
SHOREWOOD, Minn — A woman died on Friday after being hit by a truck while crossing a highway in Shorewood.
It happened at about 1 p.m., according to Minnesota State Patrol, on Highway 7.
Officials said the 65-year-old woman from Shorewood was walking across the highway at Christmas Lake Road when she was struck by a Ford F150 that was turning left onto Highway 7.
The name of the victim has not yet been made public.
After four years, mounting safety concerns, and a Public Utilities Commission hearing, 100+ wind turbine blades stuck Grand Meadow could finally be on the move.
GRAND MEADOW, Minn. — Wind turbines are a common sight across southern Minnesota, but a massive pile of more than 100+ discarded wind turbine blades isn’t something you see every day.
Unless you live in Grand Meadow.
“The whole town is upset about it,” said Patti Harvey who lives near the lot where the blades have been sitting since 2020. “It’s a real mess.”
“This is a nuisance,” said Mower County Commissioner, Polly Glynn, who also lives in the town, which is about 20 miles south of Rochester.
“I call it a turbine graveyard,” said Grand Meadow City Administrator, James Christian, who has been looking for a way to remove the turbines ever since it was clear that they had overstayed their welcome. The owners thought they’d be here for about three months. This was supposed to be just a temporary lay-down yard.”
NextEra Energy decommissioned the blades from its nearby windfarm in 2020, and paid a start-up called RiverCap to remove them.
“Initially, (RiverCap) was going to recycle them, and crush them down into an aggregate that would then go into concrete,” Christian said. “And then this spinoff company from RiverCap, called Canvus, they were going to turn them into furniture. Outdoor furniture.”
“Everything sounded wonderful, but it just didn’t get done,” said Glynn, who said she spoke to and emailed with the recycling company several times. “But every deadline has come and gone.”
Eventually, Glynn said both companies went out of business and the blades became a growing health and safety issue.
“It’s nasty, just nasty stuff,” Havey said. “It’s dirty and the kids want to play on it and there’s all kinds of critters that live in those things.”
“We’ve had a lot of problems with animals out here,” Christian said. “Raccoons, foxes, and other animals that shouldn’t be in town.”
After yet another deadline came and went in July, Christian stopped playing nice.
“I knocked on every door and called every number I could find until I finally got to the Utilities Commission,” he said.
After looking into the site permit for the wind farm, Christian decided to file a complaint against NextEra Energy.
“In the initial permit application, they said that they were going to have these things taken care of, recycled or put in a proper facility,” he said.
In the PUC hearing about that complaint on Thursday, NextEra Energy representatives said they do not have ownership of the blades, but with the owners out of business and unresponsive the commission ordered NextEra to take action.
“When we do these permits, we expect you to act in good faith and follow your commitments and you have the permit obligation to put them at an appropriate facility,” said commissioner John Tuma. “I find it not appropriate. I find that sticking it in Grand Meadow is not a final resting place.”
NextEra Energy then agreed to get to work.
“Removal must start by Oct. 5 and must be completed by Dec. 15 of this year,” Christian said. “It felt like I was finally being listened to.”
“James (Christian) has really stepped up and tried to get this out,” Glynn said. “I feel pretty good that we’ve got some clout behind it now. Hopefully, it will get done.”
Christian: “I’ll believe it when I see it, but I do have a little more faith than I had yesterday morning.”
Erdahl: “Are they going to throw you a parade if this actually happens?”
Christian: “There was mention yesterday of a parade once the final truck leaves town. Put some banners and ribbons on it.”
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