Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Wednesday his office has offered a 15-year sentence reduction to Myon Burrell, the man who was a teen when convicted in the death of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards.
It’s a nearly 20-year-old case that made headlines again in 2020 as Sen. Amy Klobuchar, then the Hennepin County Attorney, was running for president. Her record as a prosecutor during the tough-on-crime period of the ‘90s and early 2000s was under the microscope as activists across the country reflected on the criminal justice system as a whole.
Edwards was shot by a stray bullet nearly exactly 18 years ago while she was doing her homework at the dining room table. Burrell was 16. He is now 34 and has served about half of his life behind bars.
In a statement, Freeman said he’s reviewed the case and “there is no question that Myon Burrell pulled the trigger that fired the fatal bullet.” He added that because there is more knowledge about the “brain development of juveniles, especially juvenile males” the sentence Burrell’s serving is “too long.” Freeman said Burrell was “acting in concert with older, more experienced” gang members and cited a 2012 US Supreme Court case Miller v Alabama that described how parts of the brain that control behavior do not fully develop until the early 20s.
A jury found him guilty of murder and attempted murder. A bench trial in 2008 convicted him again and he was sentenced to 45 years. The offer drops the 15-year sentence for attempted murder after he finishes serving 30 years for Edwards’s death.
“I think it’s the least that he could possibly ever do. By that I mean it’s not remotely enough,” Jess Sundin with Twin Cities Coalition forJustice 4 Jamar said.
TCC4J is part of the Liberation for Myon Coalition, a group of community members working with Burrell’s family to support Burrell and his release.
“He has a wife and a child. I met his sister and his father….He’s someone who’s really treasured and really missed,” Sundin said. “He needs to be returned to his family.
“At the end of the day, this so-called offer from Mike Freeman doesn’t address what this family is really missing which is being back together again. It really doesn’t do anything to address the harm that has already been visited upon Myon and his family. To me, really the only thing that can begin to address that is to set Myon free.”
An Associated Press yearlong investigation released earlier this year “exposed major flaws in the investigation and prosecution, raising questions as to whether he may have been wrongfully convicted.” In March the AP wrote, “over time, (Burrell) has come to believe he was railroaded by police and used by politicians to curry favor with voters enraged over violence in their neighborhood.”
But achieving justice is complex and the renewed attention has not been easy for the Edwards family, says MAD DADS’ VJ Smith, who knows the family.
“That family struggled,” Smith said. “(Tyesha’s) brother and sister are still grieving about that. It was tough. It’s tough to lose somebody like that and move on with your life. It’s seriously tough. And I watched the transformation now, and then those kids lost their mom. Now even though they’re grown, they still lose their mom. They’re still losing, they’re still grieving, it’s the holiday season. All this is coming back to fruition and all this energy around bringing the case back up, it’s going to bring up feelings for everybody that is very painful.”
Smith said that if Burrell is indeed not guilty, the rightful murderer should be sought.
Freeman said the offer letter was sent Oct. 22. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
Freeman has faced pressure by activists. Throughout the summer following George Floyd’s killing they have circulated a petition calling for him to be recalled, frustrated by what they describe as protecting police.
Burrell has exhausted his appeals and only new evidence can allow for a new appeal, according to Freeman’s statement; however, supporters and activists like Sundin say they’re hopeful. Next month his case is scheduled to go before the Minnesota Board of Pardons. The case is also being reviewed by the Innocence Project and the Center on Wrongful convictions.
Sundin has corresponded with Burrell over email, who she describes as warm and open.
“The problem of racism in our courts is well-established, but it was, in particular, a time when there was a lot of hysteria against young Black men,” Sundin said. “All the cards were stacked against him when he first went to trial. To me, what’s important about that is not that it means Myon’s sentence was long, but really that the entire prosecution was flawed from the beginning.”
Burrell’s lawyer told the AP Burrell is innocent and only his “immediate release would be good enough to effectuate true justice.”