The Jail Tapes in the Dumpster
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Sixteen-year-old Myon Burrell was sent to prison for life after a stray bullet killed an 11-year-old girl in Minneapolis in 2002. Amy Klobuchar, who was Minneapolis\\u2019 top prosecutor, brought first-degree murder charges as part of a national crackdown on gang violence \\u2013 a crackdown that engulfed young men of color.\\xa0\\xa0
\\n\\nBurrell maintained his innocence for 18 years in prison. Associated Press reporter Robin McDowell spent a year looking into his case and found that multiple people had lied about Burrell\\u2019s involvement in the shooting and that police didn\\u2019t talk to his alibi witnesses. In December 2020, the state commuted Burrell\\u2019s sentence, allowing him to walk free.\\xa0
\\n\\nThis end to a prison sentence is rare: Burrell\\u2019s case was the first time in at least 28 years that Minnesota commuted a sentence for a violent crime case. But the factors that put Burrell in prison are not rare at all. According to The Sentencing Project, over 10,000 people are serving life sentences in the U.S. for crimes committed when they were juveniles. Half of them are Black. Burrell\\u2019s long shot reveals just how difficult it is to right a wrong in our criminal justice system. How many others like Burrell are there?
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