Hennepin County Attorney’s Office struggling to retain attorneys — and other top public safety news
Information surfaces about dramatic staffing crisis in Hennepin County Attorney’s Office
Alpha News broke a story this week that confirms rumors that have existed for the past two years that Mary Moriarty’s Hennepin County Attorney’s Office is struggling to maintain proper staffing as attorneys have left in response to Moriarty’s progressive policy shifts.
According to the article, the Adult Prosecution Unit, which handles the bulk of violent crime prosecution, has lost 12 attorneys who have either retired or resigned since January. The 25 attorneys who remain each have 100 cases on average, and each attorney has 4-7 pending trials set to start each Monday. The situation is described by an anonymous source as “unsustainable.”
This comes on the heels of an even more dramatic loss in the Youth Prosecution Unit which saw 10 of its 21 attorneys leave by October 2023, Moriarty’s first year in office.
Obviously, this rate of loss and the turnover in experience will result in unwanted outcomes — like decreases in cases charged and increases in the use of plea bargains to avoid trial. While plea bargains are necessary at some level, an increase in plea bargains and fewer cases charged spells trouble for those concerned with the ever-increasing revolving door of justice. Our criminal justice system needs to prioritize getting back to being consequential, not a system of 4th and 5th chances.
Having heard rumors of these departures at the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, I’ve made three data practice requests for staffing data on attorneys in the past year. To date, the Hennepin County Attorney has failed to provide the requested data.
Man executes his father at deer hunting cabin in Pine County
Kirk Hazlett III, 31, of Cambridge, traveled to his father’s hunting cabin in Pine County last Friday evening, forced his way in, and shot his father nine times with a handgun including an execution-style shot while his father lay injured on the floor.
The shooting took place in front of Hazlett’s uncle and another hunting partner. Hazlett took their phones and allowed the men to leave. They fled to a neighbor’s cabin where they called the police.
Hazlett drove home and about 30 minutes later called Cambridge police to report his girlfriend was suicidal. Law enforcement quickly responded and arrested Hazlett, apparently without incident.
It’s unclear what led to such an act. The uncle and girlfriend both told police that Hazlett’s relationship with his dad was strained. Hazlett’s criminal history doesn’t appear to involve violence but does include a few alcohol-related incidents.
In a sign of things to come, Minnesota’s new Office of Cannabis Management has been forced to sue a cannabis retailer operating in Minneapolis and St. Paul, after an investigation revealed the retailer, Zaza, was selling flowering marijuana with a potency 70 times above the legal limit.
The rollout of cannabis legalization has been problematic nearly every step of the way, and there is no reason to believe it will smooth out any time soon. It’s just a bad policy for the state to support legalizing controlled substances, and the fact a dispensary has boldly flaunted the new law should not surprise anyone.
Throughout the country, as states have decided to legalize cannabis sales, possession, and adult use, the narrative has been that the move will cripple the black market and create an economic boon for the state coffers. The opposite has been more the norm, and I wrote about this last year in a piece entitled “Marijuana legalization –— We’re about to mess around and find out.”
In a sign of good judgment, our neighboring states of North and South Dakota just roundly rejected ballot initiative proposals to legalize cannabis.
Leave it to Minnesota to be “progressive” and to find itself trying to prevent what was all too predictable.
Armed suspect rams Minneapolis squads saying he’s not “going back to prison.”
North Minneapolis Crime Watch reported yesterday morning that an armed male had rammed Minneapolis police squad cars during an arrest attempt and that he was vowing not to “go back to prison.”
The man apparently then struck a civilian before bailing from his car and fleeing on foot. He was arrested a short time later near Glenwood and Logan Ave North.
The report from Crime Watch illustrates the important role it plays in informing the public about the level of violent crime happening in our communities. This incident, though dramatic and involving a career criminal garnered zero legacy media attention that I can find.
I reviewed the booking log at the Hennepin County Jail, and though I cannot be certain it’s the same suspect, a 30-year-old native American male was booked by MPD for Probable Cause Weapons, Fleeing Police in a Motor Vehicle, and Possession of Control Substances. The jail found holds/warrants out on the man from Clay, Douglas, Scott, Ramsey, and Yellow Medicine Counties.
Maybe this time will be the charm?
8th Congressional District DFL Party Leader charged with Criminal Vehicular Homicide
Cynthia Arlene Martin, 65, of Grand Rapids, the Chair of the 8th Congressional District DFL Party, was charged this week with Criminal Vehicular Homicide for striking and killing a 19-year-old man on Hwy 169 in Itasca County last July 3rd.
According to reports, Martin called the police the following morning to report that she thought she had hit an owl or turkey. A surveillance camera in the area showed Martin’s car stop next to the victim for about 30 seconds before driving off without rendering aid or calling in the accident.
Tragically another motorist struck the victim as he lay in the roadway a short time later. That person stopped and called the police. The victim died at the scene.
Frequently charges of Criminal Vehicular Homicide (CVH) stem from someone operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time they injure or kill someone. However, one of the subdivisions details how knowingly leaving the scene of an injury accident and failing to render aid constitutes CVH as well. It appears this is what has been charged out in this case, making it all the more tragic.
Accidents can happen, but it’s incumbent upon us all to show common decency by rendering aid to someone we may have accidentally injured. Failing to do so, as it appears the case is here, only compounded Martin’s situation and may very well have prevented the victim from being struck a second time.