On the same day it was revealed former Vice President Joe Biden is considering a campaign alliance with fellow Democrat presidential candidate Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, black leaders demanded she drop out of the race, accusing her of framing a young black man for a crime he didn’t commit.
“On Wednesday, the Racial Justice Network, Minneapolis NAACP, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities, Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar and Communities United Against Police Brutality all asked Klobuchar to suspend her White House bid,” The Hill reports.
As a Minneapolis prosecutor, Klobuchar charged a teenaged Myon Burrell with murdering 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards and sent him to prison for life, even though there was little evidence of guilt and his co-defendant confessed and testified Burrell was not at the scene.
Klobuchar used the case in her political campaign for Minnesota Attorney General and U.S. Senate.
But the Associated Press reported the case was deeply flawed from the start, noting Klobuchar offered reduced sentences to jailhouse snitches who agreed to implicate the black defendant.
The AP reports:
The case relied heavily on a teen rival of Burrell’s who gave conflicting accounts when identifying the shooter, who was largely obscured behind a wall 120 feet away.
With no other eyewitnesses, police turned to multiple jailhouse snitches. Some have since recanted, saying they were coached or coerced. Others were given reduced time, raising questions about their credibility. And the lead homicide detective offered “major dollars” for names, even if it was hearsay.
There was no gun, fingerprints, or DNA. Alibis were never seriously pursued. Key evidence has gone missing or was never obtained, including a convenience store surveillance tape that Burrell and others say would have cleared him.
The victim’s father, Leonard Winborn, was among those suggesting Klobuchar framed a black defendant to boost her political career.
“If that man hasn’t done nothing, then he doesn’t need to be in there at all,” Edwards’ father, Leonard Winborn, told the local Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.
The AP reports Winborn is “worried Tyesha’s death may have been used by Klobuchar and others for political capital.”
AAN Staff
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