Minnesota man sentenced to life as juvenile is freed from prison

Myon Burrell walked out of prison as a free man nearly two decades after he was sentenced to life in prison as a teen for the death of a young girl killed by a stray bullet.

Burrell has maintained his innocence in the death of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, who was killed in 2002 when a stray bullet struck her heart while she was inside her family’s home doing homework.

The Minnesota Board of Pardons commuted his sentence after The Associated Press and APM Reports uncovered evidence indicating serious flaws in the police investigation. The AP found there was no hard evidence tying Burrell, 16 years old at the time, to Edwards’s death. No gun, DNA or fingerprints were found, and security camera footage that Burrell insisted would clear him was never collected.

#MyonBurrell has left Stillwater prison after his life sentence was commuted Tuesday. READ MORE: https://t.co/dl5eadwEFJ pic.twitter.com/ojYR4533Tl

— WCCO – CBS Minnesota (@WCCO) December 16, 2020

After these flaws were revealed, an independent national legal panel was reportedly put together to review the case.

The panel pointed to Burrell’s age when the crime was committed as well as his exemplary record while behind bars, stating it saw no purpose in keeping Burrell locked up.

The panel said last week there was a “failure to investigate that illustrates tunnel vision.” According to the panel, evidence that could have exonerated Burrell was ignored or minimized.

Burrell will spend the next two years under supervised release, as his request for pardon was denied. The AP notes that this is the first time Minnesota has commuted the sentence in a murder case in 22 years.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) was head of the county attorney’s office who worked on Burrell’s case at the time. The AP notes that Klobuchar has held up Burrell’s case as evidence of her tough-on-crime stance.

After the AP released its report, Klobuchar requested the creation of the legal panel.

One of Burrell’s co-defendants, Isaiah Tyson, has long said that he was the shooter and that Burrell was not at the scene.

“I will always carry the burden of what happened to an innocent child,” said Tyson on a phone call from prison, according to the AP, where he is currently serving 45 years. “But by him being let go, it’s a huge relief for me, because I’ve been holding that this whole time. … He was locked up for something he had no idea about.”

Burrell’s release follows a growing nationwide debate on whether or not some sentences are too harsh for teens and young adults, whose brains have not yet fully developed. Studies have indicated that brains of young adults continue to form well into their early 20s.

The AP reports that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) pointed to these studies when he recommended Burrell’s release.

“We’re not here to relitigate the crime committed against your family that took your daughter away. There is nothing I can do to ease your pain, and it will not be made better,” Walz said to Edwards’s family, who disagreed with Burrell’s release.

“Justice is not served by incarcerating a child for his entire lifetime for a horrible mistake committed many years ago,” said Walz.