Minnesota man whose high-profile homicide sentence was commuted is discovered responsible on gun, drug expenses

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A choose has convicted a Minnesota man on gun and drug expenses in a case that drew consideration as a result of he was sentenced to life in jail as a teen in a high-profile homicide case and spent 18 years in jail earlier than his sentence was commuted.

Hennepin County Choose Mark Kappelhoff dominated in a “stipulated proof trial” that the proof was ample to seek out Myon Burrell responsible of each possession of a firearm by an ineligible individual and of fifth-degree drug possession. Prosecution and protection attorneys had agreed earlier to let the choose resolve the case based mostly on mutually agreed upon proof as an alternative of taking it to trial.

Kappelhoff famous in his ruling, dated Friday, that each side agreed that the ultimate decision of the case will rely on a ruling from the Minnesota Court docket of Appeals on whether or not police in the Minneapolis suburb of Robbinsdale made a legitimate cease and search in August 2023 after they found a handgun and drugs in Burrell’s automobile. The fees will probably be dropped if the appeals court docket guidelines that the cease was unconstitutional, because the protection argues. A sentencing date has not been set.

Burrell was convicted earlier within the 2002 demise of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, a Minneapolis lady who was hit by a stray bullet. Burrell was 16 on the time of the slaying and was sentenced to life. He maintained his innocence. The Associated Press and APM Reports in 2020 uncovered new evidence and severe flaws in that investigation, in the end leading to the creation of an unbiased legal panel to evaluation the case.

That led the state pardons board to commute Burrell’s sentence after he had spent greater than half his life in jail. Nevertheless, his pardon request was denied so his 2008 conviction for first-degree homicide remained on his document, making it nonetheless unlawful for him to have a gun.

The proof from his arrest final yr included statements from the arresting officer, who stated he noticed Burrell driving erratically, and that when he stopped Burrell, smoke got here out of the window and that he smelled a robust odor of burnt marijuana. Burrell failed discipline sobriety assessments to find out whether or not he was driving underneath the affect. The search turned up a handgun and capsules, a few of which discipline examined optimistic for methamphetamine and ecstasy.

A unique choose, Peter Cahill, ruled during the pretrial proceedings that the cease and search have been authorized. Burrell’s attorneys had argued that the officer lacked ample justification to make the cease, and that odor of marijuana the officer cited was not a robust sufficient purpose for the search, given a ruling final yr from the Minnesota Supreme Court docket that odor alone is not possible trigger for a search.

A separate drug cost stemming from a cease in Could stays pending. Burrell has a listening to in that case Sept. 23.