AG Keith Ellison explains why his office is taking on murder case in Zaria McKeever's death
MINNEAPOLIS -- For the first time in 30 years, a Minnesota attorney general is taking over a criminal case without the greenlight from a county attorney.
Gov. Tim Walz last week assigned Attorney General Keith Ellison to take over the prosecution of those accused in the murder of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever.
McKeever's family disagreed with Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty who, when she had the case, was not pursuing prison time for the juvenile shooter.
McKeever's family has been expressing outrage at Moriarty, who wanted to try the two juveniles accused of McKeever's murder in juvenile court. That would mean the maximum sentence the teens could receive would be two years in a juvenile facility. The 17 year old has already signed the plea deal. But the 15 year old who was the alleged shooter in the home invasion had not yet signed the deal.
Ellison publicly criticized Moriarty's lenient prosecution and asked Walz to assign him the case. The governor did, and Ellison intends to prosecute the now-16 year old in adult court, where he could get a much longer sentence. Moriarty has angrily called Ellison's move undemocratic, and criticized it for setting a dangerous precedent.
Ellison was a guest on WCCO Sunday Morning.
"The facts are so far outside of what is expected, what community standards are, that anybody who is the victim of a premeditated murder, there cannot be a minimal disposition for the people who did it, and so that's why we're involved," Ellison said.
Moriarty says she was planning to use the full force of her office to prosecute the adult in the case, Erick Haynes, who is accused of ordering the murder. Moriarty has been accused in at least one other case of prioritizing the defendant over the victim.
Moriarty, who was just elected county attorney in November, says she still believes the best chance for rehabilitation of the teen would be a plea deal, with the juvenile getting a two-year sentence and then having him on probation with the threat of a much-longer sentence hanging over him if he reoffends. But Ellison says accountability for the seriousness of this crime was missing in this case, and that's why he asked the governor to give it to him.
On Sunday, the Minnesota Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild released a statement criticizing Walz and Ellison's move, saying in part, "Your decision is not just wrong, but in the context of other decisions, shows that you are making these sensitive decisions based on political expedience."
You can watch WCCO Sunday Morning with Esme Murphy and Joseph Dames every Sunday at 6 a.m. and 10:30 a.m.