Minneapolis murder conviction vacated, Edgar Barrientos-Quintana set free

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - A man convicted of a 2008 Minneapolis murder is free after the state's conviction review unit issued a report with evidence that showed his innocence. 

What we know

Edgar Barrientos-Quintana, 41, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder of high school student Jesse Mickelson.

The conviction was vacated in Hennepin County Court on Wednesday, Nov. 6.

Barrientos-Quintana is now free for the first time in 16 years. 

The case was given to Judge John McBride last month, who took the case under advisement before reaching a decision. 

The Minnesota Conviction Review Unit (CRU) called for Barrientos-Quintana's conviction to be vacated back in July after a three-year investigation revealed evidence that was never presented to the jury and inaccurate information that was presented at trial. 

READ MORE: Hennepin County Attorney seeks to vacate man's 2009 murder conviction

What they're saying 

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison shared a written statement saying "I established Minnesota’s first-ever Conviction Review Unit to identify and correct wrongful convictions. Convicting an innocent person does not serve the interests of justice and benefits no one but the true perpetrators. Yesterday, the work our CRU did has led to an innocent man being freed after serving 16 years in prison. I want to thank Mr. Barrientos’s attorneys for their tireless advocacy for his innocence and the Hennepin County Attorney for working with them to ensure Mr. Barrientos is no longer in prison for a crime he did not commit."

A case dismissal document, signed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, states the court officials "cannot express any confidence that, if [Defendant] had reasonable counsel, or if prosecutors had complied with their duty to disclose, the jury would still have convicted him." 

Victim's family supports decision

Jesse Mickelson's oldest sister, Tina Rosebear, spoke to reporters after the hearing.

"I forgave him before I even knew he was innocent and that was the big part because I had to forgive him in order to release that hurt," Rosebear said. "My only concern today is that the judge comes back with a decision as soon as possible.. and honors our decision and the attorney’s decision and releases him."

When asked if the family would want to meet Barrientos-Quintana if he's released, Rosebear said, "We're hoping we can. You know we do want to apologize to him. We held a lot of grief in our heart for him and he didn't have anything to do with it. If he's willing to meet us, we want to. Especially my little sister who watched my brother pass away."

Rosebear added that "Once the documents became public and we were able to read the documents in black and white ourselves, that's when we knew that they convicted the wrong man." 

Case background

Jesse Mickelson died in his neighbor's driveway after he was shot on Oct. 11, 2008, after a drive-by shooting. 

Investigators noted the case had similarities to gang-related drive-by shootings but did not believe Mickelson was the target or that he was a gang member. 

The trial reportedly relied on the account of two eyewitnesses who identified Barrientos-Quintana as the shooter. One of the witnesses also claimed to be in the car that the deadly shots were fired from.

Barrientos-Quintana's defense argued he could not have been at the scene of the shooting, which happened just behind Roosevelt High School in south Minneapolis, as he was at a grocery store on the east side of St. Paul 33 minutes before the shooting. The defense also said it was a case of mistaken identity. 

The jury then took three days to deliberate and was reportedly split at one point, with three jurors favoring a not-guilty verdict, according to the CRU report. 

Barrientos-Quintana was ultimately found guilty of first-degree premeditated murder for the benefit of a gang in May 2009. 

What led to the call to vacate the conviction? 

The CRU conducted a three-year investigation, which led to an 181-page report that revealed evidence that was never presented to the jury during Barrientos-Quintana's trial, and inaccurate information was shown during the trial. 

The report alleges multiple issues with the conviction, including: 

• No physical evidence tying Barrientos-Quintana to the case.
• Barrientos-Quintana albi. Video shows him and his girlfriend at a Maplewood grocery store before the shooting, which was 33 minutes away from where the shooting happened. Phone records also show him at his girlfriend's home after the shooting, located 28 minutes away. During the CRU investigation, a former Minneapolis police sergeant drove that same route and deemed it "improbable, if not impossible" for Barrientos-Quintana to be the shooter.
• Multiple witnesses named someone else as the shooter early in the investigation, with police reportedly "pressuring" them to instead identify Barrientos-Quintana as the shooter. One witness ultimately recanted his testimony.
• Prosecutors allegedly elicited false police testimony that no one had identified someone else as the shooter.
• Photo lineups that violated Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) protocols.
• Eyewitnesses described the shooter as "shiny bald" or having a closely shaved head. The photo lineup showed a picture of Barrintos-Quintana with a shaved head, but at the time of the shooting, he had a full head of hair, as seen in the grocery store surveillance video that day.
• Law enforcement allegedly threatened young witnesses with prosecution if they didn't identify Barrientos-Quintana as the shooter.
• The prosecution failed to disclose evidence to the defense or didn't disclose it in time for it to be used in trial by the defense.
• The prosecution was aware that the lead MPD investigator in the case went on the reality TV show "The First 48," which claims if detectives don't find a lead in the first 48 hours, their chances of solving it are cut in half. The MPD investigator made scripted comments on the show about the investigation. The episode about this case aired shortly before the trial. Prosecutors did not disclose this fact to the defense.

After the CRU released its report, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office (HCAO) conducted its own review of the case and agreed with the CRU's recommendation to vacate the conviction and dismiss the charges.