Hope lost: Minnesota AG closes unit that freed wrongfully convicted prisoners
Unit that freed wrongfully convicted prisoners shutdown
The Minnesota Attorney General was forced to shutdown the Conviction Integrity Unit due to federal funding being pulled. FOX 9 Investigator Paul Blume has more.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Minnesota’s top public law office is shutting down a key unit that investigated wrongful convictions, and those who depend on it say the loss is a major blow for justice.
Minnesota Attorney General’s Office ends wrongful conviction reviews
What we know:
The Attorney General’s Office is closing its Conviction Review Unit (CRU), which has been responsible for investigating claims of wrongful conviction.
The move comes after a loss of federal funding that state officials blame on the Trump administration pulling a half-million-dollar grant.
"Current budget constraints do not allow the program’s costs to be absorbed without compromising other core responsibilities," Attorney General Keith Ellison wrote in a statement to the FOX 9 Investigators. "It is disappointing that our federal government has decided to deprioritize identifying and correcting wrongful convictions."
Advocates including Marvina Haynes, who fought for her brother Marvin’s release after he spent nearly 20 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, says the news is devastating.
"That really breaks my heart because people really depend on the CRU," said Haynes. "This work is very important. Families depend on this lifeline, right? It gave people hope."
The unit screened more than 1,000 cases while fully investigating and issuing findings in four previously closed convictions, including the 2009 case of Edgar Barrientos-Quintana.
Barrientos-Quintana was freed in 2024 after the CRU’s review uncovered a flawed case and a viable alibi.
Hennepin Co. has its own conviction review team
Local perspective:
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who runs her own conviction integrity unit, said the Attorney General’s team has been a valuable partner.
"Mistakes happen, injustices happen, and we need to be humble enough to accept the fact that they do happen and make things right," explained Moriarty. "They (the CRU) made a report in Barientos-Quintana that we accepted, and he was exonerated. So yes, they have been good partners to us."
Moriarty said her office will continue to review cases but worries about the broader impact.
"When we have looked at cases, we have obviously had some exonerations, but we have also had cases that we have not recommended relief," Moriarty said. "And so that should be assurance to the community that when somebody has asked us to take a look at their conviction, we have taken a deep dive into it and we haven't found anything that would question the integrity of that conviction."
Innocence Project also lost grant
Dig deeper:
Moriarty and others are concerned that the loss of both the Attorney General’s unit and a separate $600,000 federal grant to the Great North Innocence Project (GNIP) will make it much harder to uncover and correct mistakes in the state’s criminal justice system.
"The idea that people are perhaps in prison, wrongfully convicted, and that they would remain there without anybody reviewing their cases does take away hope, as you said. And that is an injustice," said Moriarty.
Advocates say the closure leaves a gap for people seeking justice. "Yes, justice will not prevail because now who will be able to actually dive into the case? Even if they weren’t actively working on cases, that unit by itself gave people hope," lamented Haynes.
Meantime, GNIP officials continue to reach out to donors to help bridge the organization’s ongoing funding gap.
"Conviction review units serve a vital role in ensuring that credible claims of innocence receive careful, independent review and that wrongful convictions are not allowed to stand because of procedural barriers," GNIP’s Legal Director James Mayer wrote in a statement to the FOX 9 Investigators. "We remain committed to working with prosecutors across Minnesota to identify and correct wrongful convictions, and we hope to see more jurisdictions establish conviction review units in the years ahead."
Attorney General’s Office budget cuts
What's next:
Ellison has said he is open to resuming conviction reviews in his office if the necessary funding can be secured. Just last week, however, the office had to cut 17 staff members, including three attorneys, due in part to rising costs.