Minnesota
The Minnesota Court of Appeals held that statements made to a child welfare investigator after invoking the right to counsel are inadmissible under Miranda, finding that the investigator was acting as an arm of the state. The court reasoned: The central issue on appeal therefore narrows to whether Flores’s invocation of his Miranda rights bars not…
The Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed a restitution order on a juvenile delinquency case based on a finding that the youth was deprived of their right to effective assistance of counsel. The Court stated in relevant part: “Finally, K.A.A. contends that her right to effective assistance of counsel was violated in the restitution proceeding. Juvenile-delinquency…
The Supreme Court of Minnesota ruled that due process requires an impartial judge and offered the following language in support. “We conclude by emphasizing that the Minnesota Constitution’s guarantee of due process includes the right to an impartial judge. Minn. Const. art. 1 § 7. We therefore clarify that our holding in this case—that due process…
This Article is one of the first to explore the racialized impact of the two most controversial and ubiquitous forms of what we call “imputed liability murder.” An analysis of ten years of murder prosecutions in the state of Minnesota reveals that imputed liability murder is anything but a fringe subtype of homicide: an astounding…
From the executive summary: “On April 21, 2021, the Department of Justice opened a pattern or practice investigation of the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) and the City of Minneapolis. By then, Derek Chauvin had been convicted in state court for the tragic murder of George Floyd in 2020. In the years before, shootings by other…
This executive summary of from the Giffords Law Center provides an overview of diversion programs for nonviolent gun possession focusing on the Pathways to New Beginnings program in Minneapolis. Additionally, the resource includes recidivism rates for people who participated in the program and offers recommendations to prosecutors and state legislators on these types of diversion…
This amicus brief by Juvenile Law Center, Campaign for Youth Justice, and The Gault Center argues the transfer hearing in the state juvenile court deprived the young person of due process when the judge only considered the intentional murder charge, when they were ultimately convicted on the lesser offense of felony murder and second degree…
