Following the announcement of a plea bargain being reached in a case that involved a Brooklyn Park woman’s murder, many have criticized the updated charges brought by the Hennepin County Attorney.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty joined News Talk 830 WCCO’s Vineeta Sawkar to discuss her decision when it came to what charges she sought against the three suspects involved.
“Our approach is on a case-by-case basis,” Moriarty said, adding that they looked at what is best for “public safety and justice.”
When looking at this case, Moriarty said that Zaria McKeever’s death was deemed a domestic homicide orchestrated by an adult, Erick Haynes, who “preyed” on and “manipulated” a 15-year-old and 17-year-old into carrying out the murder.
“There are quite a few facts here. He provided a gun. He drove them over there. He drove them away. He disposed of the gun,” Moriarty said. “And so we looked at each of the three individuals, the adult and the 15- and 17-year-old. We are aggressively prosecuting the adult.”
Moriarty says that Haynes refused to move on from his relationship with McKeever after she decided to end things, continuously stalking her up until her death. Because of this, and how she says he manipulated the two juveniles, Moriarty’s office is seeking higher charges and longer sentences for Haynes, while they’ve reached deals with the two juveniles involved.
Moriarty says because of the juveniles’ age, their lack of history, and the fact that they were manipulated by an adult into committing the murder, they deemed keeping them in the juvenile system as the best decision for their rehabilitation. Still, the possibility of seeing time in an adult prison is possible.
“They are going to juvenile prison or incarceration for a period of time, and they are going to have an adult prison sentence hanging over their heads, so if they violate the conditions of their probation… they can be sent to [an adult] prison,” Moriarty said.
Another important part of the plea deals reached with the juveniles is that they will have to testify in Haynes’ case, Moriarty said.
The family of McKeever has been very outspoken about the decision from Moriarty’s office to offer plea deals to the two who carried out her murder. They have gone as far as to ask the judge to strike down the plea bargains, asking for justice for McKeever.
“This is a slippery slope, and it will continue to perpetuate itself over and over again like a vicious cycle,” McKeever’s father, Paul Greer, said.
Moriarty has spoken with the family about her office’s decision, and she acknowledged that it is heartbreaking but reaffirmed her position in the prosecution.
“We are not punishing for the sake of punishment. We are trying to find out what true accountability and serious interventions mean,” Moriarty said, noting that the previous Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman, often sent juveniles behind bars.
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