CHICAGO — As Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz celebrates on the first day of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, a man whose murder sentence he commuted will face trial for additional crimes he’s accused of committing since the now-Democratic vice presidential nominee set him free early.
Myron Burrell was given a life murder sentence for the 2002 killing of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, who was struck by a stray bullet while doing homework, but Walz voted to commute Burrell’s sentence when the governor was a member of the Minnesota Board of Pardons in 2020.
Burrell was 16 at the time of the shooting. Police said he shot Tyesha while attempting to hit a rival gang member.
Two years after his commutation, Burrell has been in and out of court hearings for two separate arrests. He was first arrested in 2023 for illegally possessing a gun and fifth-degree possession of controlled substance.
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Burrell, now 37, was arrested again in 2024 and received a separate charge of one count of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance after police found evidence of a controlled substance in his car and a pill that tested for methamphetamine.
Burrell’s jury trial for his 2023 arrest begins in Hennepin County on Monday morning, according to court records reviewed by The Post.
Burrell was originally handed a life sentence by Amy Klobuchar, who was then a prosecutor. She pointed to the case as evidence of her tough-on-crime record during her political career as she rose to senator.
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The case was brought to light again after Klobuchar ran for the presidency in 2020 and after the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement demanding police reform.
Burrell had maintained innocence in the case in the nearly two decades since he was convicted. In 2020, an Associated Press investigation also called the case into question after the outlet pointed out that there was no DNA, gun or fingerprints directly tying the case to Burrell.
Instead, the case relied on eyewitnesses and jailhouse informants who pointed to Burrell.
Ultimately, Burrell’s sentence was commuted to 20 years. Burrell had already served 18 years behind bars, and the remaining two years would be served outside prison with supervision, as proposed by Walz. It was the first time in 22 years that a murder case was commuted in the state.
Walz said at the time, “we cannot turn a blind eye to the developments in science and law as we look at this case.”
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He also addressed the Edwards family: “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.”
Jimmie Edwards III, Tyesha’s brother, had spoken out in 2020 about how the commutation was hard for his family to hear for their mother.
“When she lost our sister, it took her away. She was never able to recover,” Edwards III said of his and Tyesha’s mother. “I’m glad my mom is not here to witness this, because it would just break her heart.”
The Harris-Walz campaign did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post.
