Governor Tim Walz Removes Hennepin County Attorney from Murder Case, Gives it to AG

(KNSI) — In an unprecedented move, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has taken over prosecuting the case of two juveniles accused in the home invasion-style murder of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever in November.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty offered the 15 and 17-year-old suspects time in a juvenile facility instead of trying them as adults and sending them to prison. Ellison stood with McKeever’s family at a community rally on Wednesday and called the potential sentences an injustice.

The teens allegedly kicked in the door of McKeever’s apartment at the behest of her 22-year-old ex-boyfriend and shot her several times. The two were to be tried as adults under former Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman. Moriarty was elected in November after Freemen said he would not seek another term.

In a statement, Ellison said his request to the governor to step in and assign the prosecution of the case to the AG’s office is one he did not make lightly. “I requested that Hennepin County refer the prosecution of this case to my office, as the law provides, but they declined to do so. The governor’s power under state law to assign criminal cases to the Attorney General has been used and should be used very sparingly, and I do not expect to make a request like it again.”

Usually, the county attorney requests the AG’s office for assistance, as they did in the trials of former police officers Derek Chauvin and Kimberly Potter. Not the other way around.

Moriarty ran on a campaign promise of juvenile justice reform, with her office issuing a memo surrounding juvenile prosecutions saying science shows those younger than their mid-20s have brains that are not fully developed as “the last parts of the brain to fully develop is the pre-frontal cortex – the area of the brain that impacts many important functions, including impulsivity, ability to consider risk and consequences, empathy and susceptibility to peer pressure.”

Moriarty uses that science to assert that juveniles can still be rehabilitated as “a youth’s developing brain and malleability present a unique opportunity for positive change.”

Ellison agreed there are too many juveniles in the adult prison system, but “accountability for the seriousness of this crime has been missing in this case. I respect that county attorneys are duly elected by their constituents to exercise their discretion; however, the disposition of the juvenile shooter that Hennepin County has proposed in this case is disproportionate to the seriousness of the crime committed and falls far short of the family’s and community’s expectations for justice and safety. My office will pursue justice in all its aspects in the prosecution of this case.”

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