Star Tribune
State Board of Pardons decides Mitchell Hamline law student can seek parole after 18 more years
An imprisoned Mitchell Hamline School of Law student lost her bid Thursday for a quick release from the Minnesota correctional facility in Shakopee.
In her comments to the state Board of Pardons, delivered via live video from prison, Maureen Onyelobi, 37, apologized to the victim’s family and sounded hopeful that she might get out soon, pledging to put her legal education to use helping others.
“No matter what the board decides today, I just want you to know I’m grateful and I will spend every day trying to make amends for my crime,” Onyelobi, convicted of aiding and abetting first-degree murder, told the board made up of Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea. It was Gildea’s final session before stepping down from the bench on Oct. 1.
The board unanimously agreed to reduce Onyelobi’s sentence from life without parole to life with the possibility of parole, making her eligible to be considered for release by the state Department of Corrections after 27 years in prison, provided she stays out of trouble.
Onyelobi has served nine years in prison, making her potentially eligible for consideration in another 18 years.
Weighing heavily against her imminent release was the gravity of her crime. Onyelobi was convicted in November 2014 in the death of Anthony Fairbanks. At trial, prosecutors claimed Fairbanks was a heroin addict. He was facing a federal drug indictment in North Dakota at the time of his death, but had yet to be apprehended, court records show.
His co-defendant on the indictment was Maurice Wilson, Onyelobi’s then-boyfriend. Wilson was in the Cass County jail at the time of the murder.
Prosecutors alleged that Onyelobi, Wilson and David Johnson regularly sold Fairbanks heroin. On the day of the murder, Wilson spoke to Onyelobi and Johnson on a recorded jail call about concerns that Fairbanks would be arrested and testify against him, putting him in prison for life. He repeatedly encouraged them to “take care of” Fairbanks so he couldn’t testify, court records show.
Onyelobi did not kill Fairbanks. But by her own admission, she was in the vehicle when Johnson shot him four times in the head. She also helped set up the fatal meeting with Fairbanks, then hid the murder weapon — a handgun — in her newly acquired storage locker, according to court records.
Onyelobi and her supporters said she was in an extremely abusive and violent relationship with Wilson and under his control.
Surviving members of Fairbanks’ family, including his mother and aunts, spoke to the board, saying that his birthday is Friday and he would have turned 33. The family opposed relief for Onyelobi, calling her a “cold-blooded murderer.” One aunt said, “My Anthony didn’t get a second chance, so why should she?”
Walz responded, “I’m deeply sorry that you have to relive this trauma.”
“Anthony Fairbanks’ life mattered,” Ellison said. “No matter what his circumstances were, he still had the possibility of doing great things in this world and that has been taken away from him.”
The attorney general told Onyelobi that given the gravity of her crime, “Your release anytime soon is not on the table for me.”
After Ellison’s statement, a male spectator stood up and loudly said, “Terrible process,” as he walked out of the room.
Ellison continued, saying that the person who didn’t pull the trigger, Onyelobi, shouldn’t be sentenced to longer than the one who did. Johnson is expected to be released in November 2040.
Walz noted that the judge and prosecutor on Onyelobi’s case also supported relief. “I do believe that the idea of life without the opportunity of parole is synonymous with a death penalty,” he said. “The loss of hope is a dangerous thing.”
Gildea, who wrote a Supreme Court decision upholding Onyelobi’s conviction in 2016, spoke briefly in support of the shorter sentence. “I appreciate so much the courage of the victim’s family,” and the steps Onyelobi took to improve herself, the chief justice said.
Wilson was convicted of first-degree murder after a trial in Hennepin County District Court and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
When the Minnesota Supreme Court this week declined to hear an appeal by the University of St. Thomas regarding the environmental impact of its new hockey/basketball arena under construction, neighbor and arena foe Dan Kennedy said the “ethical” thing for the university to do was stop construction until neighbor concerns are addressed.
Not going to happen, university officials said Thursday.
While a public review of a revised Environmental Assessment Worksheet continues through Nov. 7, construction of the 5,000-seat Lee and Penny Anderson Arena continues. In an e-mail Thursday, a university spokesman said the arena is expected to be completed in fall 2025.
“The University of St. Thomas is aware of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision to deny its petition to appeal and is reviewing the potential impacts of this decision,” an emailed statement from St. Thomas said. “Last week, the City of St. Paul published an updated EAW for public comment, and that process will continue. Construction of the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena will also continue, as permitted by law.”
But Kennedy said he believes that decision is not only wrong, but illegal. Because the state Court of Appeals this summer ruled the project’s first environmental review was inadequate, its site plans and building permits are invalid, said the president of Advocates for Responsible Development.
“We need somebody to specifically tell the University of St. Thomas that they must comply with the law,” Kennedy said. “This is an institution of higher learning, with a law school. They should comply with the law.”
Kennedy said he thought the Minnesota Court of Appeals had insisted on exactly that. In August, the appellate court ordered the city and university to conduct a new Environmental Assessment Worksheet. The previous assessment didn’t do enough to study the arena’s potential harm to the neighborhood’s parking, traffic and air quality, the court ruled.
“The reason why is that more sunlight in the morning time helps reinforce waking up, and having less light in the evening is less stimulation,” he said. “So when we’re winding down, preparing for sleep, having fewer hours of sunlight in the evening can help promote that process of falling asleep.”
Akingbola acknowledges that it can be sad to walk out of work or school when it’s already dark out, but in the long run, standard time is the way to go.
The U.S. already tried daylight savings year round in 1974
Despite the medical advice, there have been calls in recent years to make daylight savings time permanent.
Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, R-Big Lake, tried to pass a bill as recently as 2021 to make daylight savings time permanent, but it did not pass the Legislature.
The U.S. tried once before. According to Minnesota Star Tribune archives, due to an energy crisis, President Richard Nixon passed a law in January 1974 that made daylight savings a year-round thing.
A month into it, the Minneapolis Tribune ran an article saying there were calls to reverse the decision because there were more accidents in the pre-dawn darkness, particularly involving school children waiting for the bus. Under daylight savings time in January, sunrise wasn’t until well after 8 a.m. in Minnesota.
Karl-Anthony Towns may be in New York City, but his heart is in Minnesota.
On Wednesday night, Towns had some sweet seats for a Billie Eilish show at Madison Square Garden with his partner, Jordyn Woods, when she caught him watching the Timberwolves play the Chicago Bulls in a preseason game on his phone. Her video, posted to her Instagram story, made rounds on social media Thursday.
In the video, flames are literally spewing out from Eilish’s stage, lights are flashing all around and others in the crowd are head bobbing. And there is Towns, holding his phone in both hands and muttering to himself as the Timberwolves are down 88-75 late in the third quarter in a meaningless game.
“I promise he was enjoying the concert,” Woods wrote in the video’s caption.
The Wolves would go on to lose that game, 125-123. A nail-biter.
Towns’ trade to the New York Knicks for Julius Randle and others stunned the NBA world and all of Minnesota, where he was a beloved player for nine seasons and a leader on a team rapidly ascending toward championship contention.
“It was a lot of emotions,” Towns said. “Some amazing moments and times in nine years of my life in Minnesota, a place that I’ve called home. Guys who are not just teammates to me but brothers. We were like brothers. It definitely was a wild day, definitely coming to work.”
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