A Minnesota man whose juvenile murder sentence was commuted to remain jailed amid appeal in new case

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A Minnesota man yelled “Y’all don’t stop fighting” to his supporters after a judge decided Thursday not to free him from custody as he appeals his conviction in a gun and drug case that drew attention because it followed the commutation of his life sentence in a high-profile murder case.

Myon Burrell was locked up at 16 for the 2002 death of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, a Minneapolis girl who was hit by a stray bullet. He maintained his innocence. The Associated Press and APM Reports in 2020 uncovered new evidence and serious flaws in that investigation, leading to the creation of an independent legal panel to review the case.

Ultimately, Burrell was freed after 18 years behind bars. But then police in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale found drugs and a handgun in his SUV during a traffic stop last year. That was a problem because, while a state pardons board had commuted Burrell’s sentence, his pardon request was denied. That meant his conviction for first-degree murder remained on his record, making it still illegal for him to have a gun.

As a result, he was sentenced to five years in prison on the gun and drug charges. But his defense is appealing the legality of the traffic stop.

Burrell, now 38, said on Thursday there was no excuse for his behavior but that he was learning to live again and trying to process what had happened to him in prison. His backers spoke of his powerful work with young people to try to keep them from being incarcerated, the Minnesota Star Tribune reported.

Senior Assistant County Attorney Cheri Townsend said the state simply opposed the motion to release Burrell because of concerns about public safety.

Following the traffic stop, Burrell was charged in May with an additional drug charge after an investigation in which police allege they found a small amount of methamphetamine in his car and $60,000 in a suitcase in his home. A few months after that, Burrell was arrested on suspicion of DUI, and police found marijuana in his car.

Both of those cases are pending, and Hennepin County District Judge Mark Kappelhoff said they cast serious doubt on Burrell’s ability to prove there was no risk he would commit a serious crime.

“I see the community, I hear the community,” said Kappelhoff, who worked for years in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Assistant Attorney General. “But my job is to apply the law based on what I see, based on the facts before me.”

The Associated Press