AP investigates a teen’s life sentence – and the role of Amy Klobuchar
By Robin McDowell
On the campaign trail, presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar has often cited a case – a life sentence given to black teen for killing a young girl – as proof of her tough-on-crime bona fides as a former prosecutor.
Over the course of a year, Minnesota-based investigative reporter Robin McDowell examined the case against Myon Burrell, who was 16 when he was sentenced to life in prison for the 2002 death of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards. McDowell reviewed more than a thousand pages of police records, court transcripts and interrogation tapes, and interviewed dozens of inmates, witnesses, family members, former gang leaders, lawyers and criminal justice experts.
She found that the case relied heavily on self-interested jailhouse snitches,orchestrated by police who did not follow all leads while paying for the information they wanted to find. And she interviewed a fellow defendant who said he was the gunman,not Burrell.
McDowell worked closely with photojournalist John Minchillo,who shot photos and produced a video piece that included a jailhouse interview,witness accounts and footage of police interrogations in the case. Other contributors were Washington-based producer Jeannie Ohm, North Carolina-based national writer and video journalist Allen Breed and Asia-based investigative reporter Margie Mason.
In Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 23, 2019, a cyclist stops outside the former home, in blue, of Tyesha Edwards, the 11-year-old girl pierced in the heart by a stray bullet in 2002 while doing homework at her family’s dining room table. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
A bullet hole in a neighbor’s downspout, shown Oct. 23, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minn., follows a trajectory towards the former home, in blue across the street, of Tyesha Edwards, the 11-year-old girl killed by a stray bullet in 2002 while doing homework at her family’s dining room table. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
The gravestone of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, the victim of a 2002 shooting that resulting in the murder conviction of Myon Burrell, stands at Washburn-McReavy Crystal Lake Funeral Chapel and Cemetery in Minneapolis, Oct. 24, 2019. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Mike Burrell, right, and Ianna Burrell take a call from their incarcerated brother, Myon Burrell, as they pore over documents and photographs of Myon at Ianna’s home in Shakopee, Minn., Oct. 25, 2019. Myon Burrell was convicted of murder at 16, with no gun, fingerprints or hard evidence implicating him. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Family photos of Myon Burrell during his teenage years, both before and after his incarceration, are displayed at the home of his sister Ianna, in Shakopee, Minn., Oct. 25, 2019. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Latosha Evans, a friend of Myon Burrell who says she was with the Burrell the evening Tyesha Edwards was shot and killed at home in 2002, stands in her doorway in Minneapolis, Oct. 23, 2019. Police apparently never followed up on the potential alibi for Burrell. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Myon Burrell, convicted in the murder of Tyesha Edwards, an 11-year-old girl pierced in the heart by a stray bullet in 2002 while doing homework at her family’s dining room table, is interviewed at the Stillwater (Minn.) Correctional Facility, Oct. 23, 2019. Burrell’s 2002 case, originally prosecuted by Amy Klobuchar’s office, has drawn a growing number of legal experts, community leaders and civil rights activists to question whether the black teenager may have been wrongly convicted. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., speaks to media in the spin room following a Democratic presidential primary debate in Westerville, Ohio, Oct. 15, 2019. Klobuchar claims she was unaware of questionable evidence and police tactics used to send teenager Myon Burrell to prison for life in 2002, but much of what the AP found while investigating the case would have been available to her office at the time. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
A newspaper clipping displayed Oct. 25, 2019 at the Shakopee, Minn., home of Ianna Burrell reports on the sentencing of her brother, Myon Burrell, for the 2002 killing of Tyesha Edwards. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Ianna Burrell looks over documents and photographs of her incarcerated brother, Myon Burrell, at her home in Shakopee, Minn., Oct. 25, 2019. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Myon Burrell, convicted in the murder of Tyesha Edwards, an 11-year-old girl pierced in the heart by a stray bullet in 2002 while doing homework at her family’s dining room table, is interviewed at the Stillwater (Minn.) Correctional Facility, Oct. 23, 2019. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Myon Burrell, convicted in the 2002 murder of Tyesha Edwards, walks back to his cellblock at the Stillwater (Minn.) Correctional Facility, Oct. 23, 2019. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Michael Toussaint, center, the father of Myon Burrell, speaks to reporters at the Government Center in Minneapolis, Minn., Jan. 29, 2020, as local activists respond to an AP investigation that uncovered new evidence and numerous inconsistencies in the Tyesha Edwards case that sent Burrell to prison for life in 2002 at age 16. Current presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar headed the office that prosecuted the case 17 years ago. – AP Photo / Jim Mone
A collection of newspaper clippings displayed in Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 24, 2019, follow the progress of the 2002 murder trial against Myon Burrell in the stray-bullet killing of Tyesha Edwards. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
Associated Press enterprise reporter Robin McDowell, left, interviews Myon Burrell at the Stillwater Correctional Facility in Stillwater, Minn., Oct. 23, 2019. – AP Photo / John Minchillo
The resulting package has had impact, forcing new scrutiny of the case and raising questions about Klobuchar’s record. Civil rights organizations held a demonstration in Minneapolis to demand that Klobuchar join with others to reexamine Burrell’s case. The presidential candidate was asked about it in New Hampshire, and then again on “Fox News Sunday.” The victim’s father and the jury foreman at Burrell’s trial spoke to the AP,decrying the failures of the system, while filmmaker Ave DuVernay tweeted: “Blistering article.”
The story appeared on the front page of the St. Paul Pioneer Press and was given impressive play across the web by The Washington Post and USA Today,among others. The New York Times ran its own followup,crediting AP.
For dogged reported that shed new light and focused attention on the case against a man who has long said he was wrongfully convicted, McDowell wins this week’s Best of the States award.
