In the image to the left, Myon Burrell is released from Minnesota Correctional Facility-Stillwater, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Bayport, Minn. Minnesota’s pardon board on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, commuted the sentence of Burrell, a Black man who was sent to prison for life as a teen in a high-profile murder case that raised questions about the integrity of the criminal justice system that put him away. In the image to the right, he is seen in a booking photo after his arrest on Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2023, at the Hennepin County Jail. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
A convicted murderer freed from a life sentence after a panel determined that a flawed investigation might have led to his wrongful conviction in the killing of an 11-year-old girl was arrested in Minnesota on Tuesday for reportedly carrying a loaded gun and having drugs in his possession.
Myon Burrell, 38, was arrested by police during a traffic stop in Robbinsdale, in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul metropolitan area. Police pulled his 2016 white Chevrolet Tahoe over for driving erratically, “going over the lane divider and the fog line” over the posted speed limit, police said in a news release. Inside the SUV, police found a gun, which Burrell was prohibited from carrying, and police also found drugs, police said.
A search warrant affidavit obtained by the Star Tribune said an officer saw “smoke pour out the [SUV’s] window.”
When an officer asked Burrell to get out of the SUV for a drug test, he “attempted to walk away and then fought with officers,” the newspaper reported.
Several officers responded and subdued Burrell, who was taken into custody.
He was being held at the Hennepin County Jail, online records show.
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His defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Law&Crime.
Burrell was arrested when he was 16 for killing Tyesha Edwards. At around 3 p.m. on Nov. 22, 2002, Tyesha was with her younger sister doing homework and watching TV inside her home when a bullet struck her in the chest. She died at a hospital.
A year-long investigation by the Associated Press and American Public Media Reports in 2020 uncovered serious flaws in the investigation. The reporting led to a review of his case and the commutation of his sentence to 20 years.
He served 18 years and was released on Dec. 15, 2020.
Amy Klobuchar, now Minnesota’s senior U.S. senator, was the Hennepin County Attorney when he was initially charged and convicted. She used the case in her unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign as an example of her tough-on-crime policies, the AP reported.
She later pushed for a reexamining of the case by an independent panel, which found a “failure to investigate that illustrates tunnel vision.” Investigators also ignored or downplayed evidence that could have helped exonerate him, the AP reported. His pardon request was denied, the AP reported.
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