Star Tribune
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty opens application process for incarcerated people to apply for reduced sentence
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced Wednesday that her office is opening an application process to more than 2,000 currently incarcerated people to request a reduced sentence.
The Minnesota Legislature in 2023 signed off on Prosecutor-Initiated Sentence Adjustment, a law which allows prosecutors to ask a judge to adjust the sentences of past criminal prosecutions. It’s the discretion of each county attorney’s office to decide whether it will utilize the new law. But ultimately it’s up to a judge to readjust a sentence if they find substantial and compelling reasons.
In a press release, Moriarty said an original sentence may not serve the interest of justice or public safety.
“It’s our responsibility as prosecutors to seek justice,” she continued. “Protecting public safety does not end at sentencing. More people are serving time in prison for Hennepin County convictions than any other county. This new process will help us consider individual cases in a fair, transparent way.”
Moriarty’s office will partner with lawyers at the University of St. Thomas School of Law to review and process applications. It intends to prioritize applicants with no other pending cases who have served more than three years and not scheduled for release until at least 2027.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi, who advocated for the new law, has said his office is in the process of reviewing all cases and pre-screening cases for priority consideration. Choi states on his website that he supports the ability to adjust sentences because it may no longer serve interests of justice, protect the public or be a good use of resources.
Some of the state’s largest victim-survivor coalitions, Violence Free Minnesota and the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, supported the new law. Victims or their family have the right to provide input and make a statement to the court about a possible sentence adjustment.
More about Moriarty’s new initiative and applications are available on her website.
The change is one of many the DFL-controlled Legislature and Gov. Tim Walz made to the prison system in the recent session. Inmates can now make free phone calls to friends and family and work toward earlier release through the Minnesota Rehabilitation and Reinvestment Act, which pushes them toward therapy and education.
Star Tribune staff writer Rochelle Olson contributed to this report.
Star Tribune
Long Prairie, MN school board dismisses its superintendent, the latest controversy in this small town
LONG PRAIRIE, MINN. — The school district superintendent dressed up as the school mascot, Thor, on football nights. He read the graduation address in both English and Spanish. He even set up office hours in the cafeteria, granting easier approachability to students.
But now, two months into the school year, Daniel Ludvigson is gone. Or, rather, “on special assignment,” according to the terminology of the Long Prairie-Grey Eagle School Board, which voted 4-3 earlier this month to remove him as superintendent. The move came weeks after voting to not renew his contract, which expires at the end of the school year in June.
Four board members — two of whom voted to oust Ludvigson, including Board Chair Kelly Lemke — are up for re-election next week.
The dismissal is the latest blow in this central Minnesota community on the edge of the prairie. Over the last nine months, the town of 3,400 residents and seat of Todd County has lost its mayor, a city manager, two school board members, and now its superintendent.
Students walked out earlier this month in support of Ludvigson. Signs in support of Ludvigson can be seen across town on the lawns of apparent Democrats and Republicans alike. And last week, hundreds packed the American Legion off Hwy. 71 to eat beef sandwiches and sign support letters for Ludvigson, who only swung by to pick up his child for hockey practice.
In a time of great divide in America, this fight has nothing to do with politics.
“You’ve got Harris buttons and Trump hats side-by-side, arm-in-arm,” said Amanda Hinson, a former local newspaper reporter who is concerned the board is not being upfront about why they placed Ludvigson on special assignment. “We want transparency in our government.”
Lawn signs around Long Prairie, Minn., now include people weighing in on the dismissal of Superintendent Daniel Ludvigson by the school board. (Christopher Vondracek)
School board members say Ludvigson has repeatedly shown he is not ready for the prime time of a school district bigger than the one in central North Dakota he arrived from two years ago. They have twice disciplined Ludvigson, but did not state the reason for placing him on “special assignment,” beyond insinuating that staff are fearful to raise official complaints.
Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.
“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.
The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.
It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.
“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.
“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.
The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.
An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.
The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.
Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.
Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.
The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.
Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.
The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.
