As US Senator Amy Klobuchar called for “any new evidence” to be reviewed in the case of a black teen whose prosecution for murder she oversaw, the man who served as the jury foreman in the initial trial continues to express his regrets about the case and is calling for a new trial.
Joe McLean was the jury foreman when a then-16-year-old Myon Burrell was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Tyesha Edwards, who was killed by a stray bullet in her home in 2002. Klobuchar was county attorney at the time and has repeatedly cited the case during her campaign, most prominently during a Democratic debate last fall.
After reviewing the AP story, McLean now feels that Burell’s conviction was a “miscarriage of justice” and hopes Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman will review the case.
“I do believe that the county attorney should reopen the case and look at this, in light of the new evidence that was gained from the report,” he said.
The year-long AP investigation found that the prosecution relied on jailhouse snitches who gave conflicting accounts. It also included an interview from a co-defendant of Burrell, Ike Tyson, who said he was the shooter. Freeman's office told the AP that "It’s confident the correct person was convicted but it’s always open to reviewing new evidence."
McLean believes that had the jury heard testimony from Burrell’s co-defendants, the result could have gone the other way.
“Had their words been introduced to them in the course of the trial, I think, I think that might've made a difference to us,” he said.
Klobuchar, appearing on FOX News, said it's up to Freeman to consider reopening the case.
"If there is new evidence, it must come forward, and it must be considered immediately by the court," she said. "The job of the prosecutor is to do justice, and that means to me convict the guilty and protect the innocent. I didn't know about this new evidence until I saw this (AP) report. I coudn't have. I haven't been in the (county attorney's) office in 12 years."
As Iowa voters prepare to caucus on Monday, McLean stressed that he did not want his stance to be seen as an attack on Klobuchar.
“I don't want what I'm saying to be read as an indictment of any one person, namely Senator Klobuchar and the job that she did as a county attorney back then," he said. "I think it's bigger than that. It's a broader failure than just one person.”
Listen to the full interview here: