Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarity is standing her ground after having a controversial case taken away by the Minnesota Attorney General's Office.
A crowd of angry supporters of Zaria McKeever who was allegedly shot and killed by two juveniles last fall made their thoughts very clear at Friday's press conference.
Moriarity says her decision to offer plea deals and allow the teens to be handled by the juvenile justice system is exactly the kind of reform she was elected on.
“We know from research and all of the people you talk to, if you go to prison, he would be incredibly traumatized and come out more likely to commit violence,” Moriarty says. “He would be more of a danger to the community.”
Moriarity says Ellison's takeover of the case sets a dangerous precedent.
“Our system has been premised on punishment for decades,” Moriarty said. “We are a very vengeful society and community and we've focused on punishment and we've punished many in our community, including kids by sending them to prison for extremely long periods of time. We know very well that hasn't kept us safer.”
On Thursday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison requested and was granted permission from Governor Tim Walz to take over the prosecution of the murder of McKeever.
The family of the 23-year old Brooklyn Park woman, who was shot to death in her apartment last fall, was outraged that Hennepin County attorney Mary Moriarty wanted to charge the teens in juvenile court and not as adults.
Moriarty was also criticized by law enforcement, including Hennepin County Sheriff Dewanna Witt.
“With our kids, with our teenagers who are committing such heinous acts, there needs to be accountability,” says Witt. “I’ve talked about in the past, there also those other kids that are watching, and if they’re not seeing their peers held accountable, they’re also going to fall to this.”
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