Myron Burrell was sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted of murdering a child in 2002.
However, new evidence and a look into a “flawed” investigation have helped free him. According to NBC News, the state’s pardon board released Burrell, who has been in prison since he was a teenager.
In 2002, 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards was killed by a stray bullet through her heart while she sat at her dining room table doing homework. Burrell was 16 years old at the time, and not only has he maintained his innocence, but another man has also come forward to admit he was the shooter.
The case was a high-profile case that garnered the attention of the Associated Press and American Public Media. Earlier this year, both outlets discovered new evidence and significant police errors during their investigation. The AP launched a yearlong review of the case, finding no hard evidence—no gun, DNA, or fingerprints—that suggested Burrell was the shooter.
AP’s look into the case discovered that the police did not obtain the surveillance video at the nearby corner store; had they done so, it could have exonerated Burrell. And what’s even more disturbing is the fact that a homicide detective was heard on video offering another man $500 to give up Burrell’s name.
On Tuesday, the 34-year-old former inmate walked free after the Minnesota Board of Pardons agreed to commute his life sentence to 20 years. He will remain on supervised release for the next two years.
“I come before you, a 34-year-old man who spent more than half of his life incarcerated for a crime I didn’t commit,” Burrell stated when he requested the board for a pardon, adding that he wasn’t trying to “minimize the tragedy of the loss of” Edwards. Others supported his request, which was accompanied by testimonies from community leaders and letters from other inmates in the prison system. People on Burrell’s behalf spoke on his strong character and moral leadership as an inmate.
While in prison, Burrell converted to Islam and was a religious leader in prison, NBC News reports.
“I tried to make the best of my situation,” he said. “I started going in and extracting medicine out of the poison. The trials and tribulations I was going through, I tried to get something out of it.”
However, everyone is not happy that Burrell will walk free, including Tyesha’s brother Jimmie Edwards, III, who said the family is upset with the decision. Edwards’ family believes the justice system has failed Tyesha.
“She never got to go to her prom. She never got to go to college. She never got to go to junior high school or high school,” he said. “Her life was taken away at 11. Who’s the victim?” He also feels the media coverage given to Burrell will overshadow his sister’s death.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz agrees with the pardon board’s decision, and he also recommended the commuted sentence. He referenced science and the nation’s highest court that ruled that teenagers’ minds work differently as they become adults and that a life sentence is too harsh for a minor.
“While this board is not a fact-finder, it does have the power to determine when justice is served through the power of clemency and mercy,” Walz said, adding: “We cannot turn a blind eye to the developments in science and law as we look at this case.”
“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. But we must act today to recognize the law in this area has changed. Justice is not served by incarcerating a child for his entire lifetime for a horrible mistake committed many years ago,” Walz said in regards to the Edwards family.
