MINNEAPOLIS — A man in Minnesota yelled at his fans, “Don’t stop fighting!” after a judge decided Thursday not to free him from jail while he appeals his conviction in a gun and drug case. This case got a lot of attention because it happened soon after his life sentence was commuted in a high-profile murder case.
Myon Burrell was 16 years old when he was locked up for the death of 10 year old Tyesha Edwards in 2002. She was hit by a bullet and died. He insisted that he was innocent. In 2020, the Associated Press and APM Reports found new evidence and major flaws in that probe. This led to the formation of an independent legal panel to look into the case.
After 18 years in prison, Burrell was finally set free. After that, cops in Robbinsdale, a suburb of Minneapolis, found drugs and a gun in his SUV when they pulled him over last year. That was a problem because Burrell’s term had been commuted by the state pardons board, but his request for a pardon was turned down. That meant that his first-degree murder charge stayed on his record, which meant that he could not have a gun.
Because of this, he got five years in jail for the drug and gun charges. His defense, on the other hand, is questioning whether the traffic stop was valid.
That was not an excuse for Burrell’s behavior, the 38-year-old said Thursday. He was trying to learn how to live again and figure out what happened to him in jail. A story in the Minnesota Star Tribune said that his supporters talked about how well he worked with young people to try to keep them out of jail.
Senior Assistant County Attorney Cheri Townsend said that the state was against the move to free Burrell because they were worried about the safety of the public.
After being pulled over for speeding, Burrell was charged with another drug crime in May. Police say they found methamphetamine in his car and $60,000 in a bag in his home during their investigation. After a few months, Burrell was pulled over on suspicion of DUI, and cops found marijuana in his car.
Both of those cases are still going on, and Hennepin County District Judge Mark Kappelhoff said they made it very hard for Burrell to show that there was no chance he would do something dangerous.
He worked for many years in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Assistant Attorney General and said, “I see the community and I hear the community.” “But it’s my job to follow the law based on what I see and what I know.”