2021 News Archives

Minnesota Supreme Court hears felon voting rights case. The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday heard arguments in the American Civil Liberties Union’s lawsuit to end voting restrictions on more than 50,000 felons on probation in the state. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, November 30, 2021) 

Ramsey County Attorney’s Office defends early-intervention plan to reform potential repeat offenders. The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office wants to take the adversarial sting out of its handling of some juvenile cases in an effort to reform potential repeat offenders earlier. A three-person team — called the Collaborative Review Team — seeks to gain a holistic view of a juvenile offender before deciding if he should be returned to his family, be referred to a social worker, be referred to a community alternative or be charged with the crime. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, October 20, 2021)

Ramsey County Sheriff Opposes County Attorney’s Move to Not Prosecute Juveniles. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher wrote a letter to Ramsey County Attorney John Choi opposing his Collaborative Review Team (CRT), saying that it returns dangerous juveniles to society. In his letter, Fletcher asks Choi to pause the program until certain issues are resolved. (The Minnesota Sun, October 19, 2021)

Ramsey County attorney’s review team for juvenile cases has sheriff concerned about accountability. A three-person team within the Ramsey County attorney’s office deciding the course of juvenile cases has raised the ire of the county sheriff. The Collaborative Review Team has been meeting weekly since March 2019 with the goal of deciding whether a juvenile case should be charged and sent to juvenile court, put on probation or treated with some other community-based restorative-justice program. But law enforcement…were surprised to find that the CRT team — which they said they previously knew nothing about — was involved in the trajectory of the cases. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, October 19, 2021)

Ramsey County traffic stops: Here’s the new policy – and its potential impact. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi’s recent announcement that he will stop prosecuting most felonies that emerge from non-public-safety traffic stops drew strong reactions. Supporters say discouraging such traffic stops is a step toward addressing systemic racism that has persisted for generations…Critics of the change say Choi is decriminalizing illegal activity. Here’s a breakdown of what the new policy says and what kind of impact it could have. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, October 3, 2021)

Minnesota county attorney to stop prosecuting non-public safety traffic stops in honor of Philando Castile. Traffic stops for expired tags and broken tail lights will no longer be prosecuted in Ramsey County, Minnesota, as part of an initiative announced this week to honor Philando Castile, who was killed during a traffic stop in 2016. These type of stops – known as non-public safety stops – have a history of leading to fatal interactions with police, especially in Black communities, according to Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. (CNN, Atlanta, Georgia, September 9, 2021)

Ramsey County to end felony prosecutions from non-public traffic stops. Ramsey County will no longer prosecute felony offenses stemming from non-public safety traffic stops, officials announced Wednesday. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said these traffic stops include equipment violations such as damaged tail lights. He said such cases generally happen when a driver is stopped for a non-public safety issue like equipment violations as a pretext so an officer can "seek evidence of a more serious crime." (KARE 11, Minneapolis, MN, September 8, 2021)

Ramsey County attorney says he won’t prosecute most felonies that result from pretextual traffic stops. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and some law enforcement leaders announced Wednesday a shift in traffic stops for minor infractions. Choi said he won’t prosecute most felony cases that result from non-public-safety traffic stops. Choi said the change is overdue because drivers of color and people who can’t afford to make repairs are disproportionately affected by such traffic stops. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, September 8, 2021)

Ramsey County To End Felony Prosecutions That Result From Non-Public Safety Traffic Stops. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi has announced a new policy that he says is aimed at fundamentally changing the use of non-public safety traffic stops by police. “These types of stops disproportionately affect black and brown communities and undermine the trust in the work police do every day to serve and protect the public,” Choi’s office said in a release. (WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, MN, September 8, 2021)

Ramsey County ends felony prosecutions from low-level stops. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi will no longer prosecute cases that stem solely from traffic stops unrelated to public safety such as for a broken tail light or expired tabs, ending a practice he said disproportionately affects people of color, especially African Americans. (Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul, MN, September 8, 2021)

Group pushes for task force to reimagine how local prosecutors can transform the criminal justice system. A group of more than 100 law enforcement leaders are calling on the Biden administration to establish a task force to reimagine how local prosecutors approach their work to make the justice system less punitive and more equitable. John J. Choi, the Ramsey County attorney in Minnesota, is supporting the effort, saying it is an opportunity to make connections across jurisdictions to further criminal justice reform efforts. (Washington Post, Washington, D.C., August 18, 2021)

Ramsey County attorney hoping to receive $900k grant for community crime prevention. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi asked Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., for a $900,000 grant for community crime prevention programs and initiatives. The U.S. House of Representatives approved the expenditure and it now awaits expected approval from the U.S. Senate when it returns from its August recess early next month. (KSTP, St. Paul, MN, August 9, 2021)

Attorney General Keith Ellison launches statewide initiative to review convictions. Minnesota's first statewide initiative dedicated to reversing wrongful convictions started taking applications Tuesday, marking the latest step by Attorney General Keith Ellison to make his office a major player in criminal justice reform. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi serve on the conviction review unit's advisory board, which also includes community activists, defense attorneys and former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Anderson. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, August 3, 2021)

Minnesota AG launches unit to review wrongful convictions. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and metro prosecutors have announced the launch of a new unit to review potentially wrongful convictions through a partnership with the Minnesota Innocence Project. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman have vowed to work cooperatively with the Conviction Review Unit in cases that might arise from their respective counties. (KSTP, St. Paul, MN, August 3, 2021)

Black drivers nearly 4 times more likely to be pulled over than white drivers. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi drafted a policy last summer to not prosecute cases as a result of a pretextual stop — when an officer pulls a driver over for a minor traffic or equipment violation and uses the stop to investigate a more serious crime. He hasn’t implemented the policy yet because he continues to have discussions with law enforcement about changing the circumstances under which they pull people over. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, June 12, 2021)

Killer in St. Paul traffic crash shooting gets 12.5 years in prison after self-defense argument fails at trial. Anthony Trifiletti, 25, claimed self-defense in the death of 39-year-old Douglas Cornelius Lewis, who was shot after an argument following a minor collision near U.S. Highway 61 and Burns Avenue in St. Paul. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, June 3, 2021)

Meet the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office team leading criminal justice reform. Amid protests, racial reckoning and civil unrest, law enforcement agencies across the country are reexamining the criminal justice system and how it functions. At the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, multiple reform efforts are underway, including changing policy on pretextual traffic stops, pursuing more restorative justice options and improving conversations surrounding racial equity and inclusion. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, May 27, 2021)

Minnesota man charged with murdering wife after 11-year investigation. "After years of tenacious work by investigators and our law enforcement partners, we are one step closer to getting justice for Heidi and the truth for everyone who loved her—especially her mother, father and brothers," Saint Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said Thursday. (CNN, Atlanta, Georgia, May 22, 2021)

Police arrest husband of Heidi Firkus in her 2010 homicide in St. Paul. A man has been arrested and charged in connection with his wife’s murder 11 years after he told authorities an intruder had broken into their St. Paul home and that she was shot during a struggle. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, May 19, 2021)

Daunte Wright's death fuels push to change Minnesota warrant process. With just weeks left in the 2021 session, DFL lawmakers are proposing a change in how misdemeanor warrants are handled, in a bid to lessen the need for police to arrest those who miss court appearances for certain lower-level crimes. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, April 27, 2021)

What Ramsey County Is Doing About Mass Incarceration. “We’ve never locked people up at the rate that we do today in this country,” says Ramsey County Attorney John Choi. “We’ve been raised to believe that public safety requires us to incarcerate everybody. So it starts by just saying it out loud, that as a chief prosecutor, you believe this country and your community have a mass incarceration problem. Because nobody incarcerates like we do here in America.” (Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Minneapolis, MN, April 26, 2021)

Post Daunte Wright: Are we in the era of cops getting charged criminally? Have we entered a new era, one in which police are charged criminally when they kill people under questionable — or worse — circumstances? Has the old narrative of administrative leave and possibly internal discipline or termination — but nothing more — been put to rest? (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, April 17, 2021)

‘The lessons of this moment.’ The testimony by police brass at Derek Chauvin’s trial is unprecedented. An unprecedented lineup of law enforcement officers – including the Minneapolis police chief – took the stand at the murder trial of former officer Derek Chauvin, denouncing him for kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for more than nine minutes. (CNN, Atlanta, Georgia, April 10, 2021)

Letter: 60 Current and Former Prosecutors Sign Letter Pushing for Sentencing Review and Second Chance Opportunities. Joint Statement on Sentencing Second Chances and Addressing Past Extreme Sentences – As current and former elected prosecutors and law enforcement leaders from across the country, we know that we will not end mass incarceration until we address the substantial number of individuals serving lengthy sentences who pose little or no risk to public safety. We call on all other leaders, lawmakers, and policymakers to take action and address our nation’s bloated prison populations. (Davis Vanguard, April 9, 2021)

Ramsey County prosecuting more sex crimes. Two years after publicly promising to do better, Ramsey County prosecutors are reviewing more sexual assault cases and filing more charges, County Attorney John Choi said Tuesday. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, April 6, 2021)

Ramsey County works to better prosecute sexual assault, provide victim resources, but ‘more work needs to be done’. Choi said he noticed that they were winning a lot of the cases they were prosecuting, which may sound like the county is doing everything right. But that’s not always the case. “We weren’t taking the appropriate chances on cases where we believed the perpetrator was guilty, but had less evidence,” Choi said. “We needed to investigate those cases better and take chances on them.” (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, April 6, 2021)

What’s old is new: The return of Peacemaking. When a Native American activist tipped over a Christopher Columbus statue in front of the Minnesota State Capitol last spring, prosecutors faced a dilemma. How do you fairly try a man who broke the law but also stood up against injustice? They found an answer using ancient tools: Peacemaking Talking Circles, a traditional conflict resolution practice that is regaining favor in state and tribal courts. (Indian Country Today, Phoenix, Arizona, March 1, 2021)

State officials push for shortened sentences for some elderly inmates. On Tuesday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi came out in support of a bill that would allow prosecutors in Minnesota to shorten sentences of elderly inmates who have worked to rehabilitate themselves. The county attorney would investigate whether the inmate has shown evidence of good prison behavior and rehabilitation, while a judge would ultimately decide if the prisoner can be released. (Bring Me The News, February 24, 2021)

Choi hires conviction-review specialist. Choi said Monteiro, who joins his office’s Post-Conviction Justice Division, will mostly be dedicated to post-conviction reviews. She’ll do that both with the aim of helping free anyone who was falsely convicted and to reduce the prison terms of those whose sentences, on reflection, are deemed too heavy. (Minnesota Lawyer, Minneapolis, MN, February 19, 2021)

Civil Rights Attorneys On Biden Administration Plans For Law Enforcement Reforms. NPR's Michel Martin discusses the challenges confronting the Biden administration on policing with civil rights attorney Arthur Ago and Ramsey County, Minn., prosecutor John Choi. (National Public Radio, Washington, D.C., January 16, 2021)