State panel calls for annulment of 2009 murder conviction

A division of the Minnesota Attorney General's Office is seeking to overturn a 2009 murder conviction after an investigation into the case revealed exculpatory evidence that was never presented to the jury.

Edgar Barrientos was convicted of the premeditated murder of 18-year-old Jesse Mickelson in his neighbor's driveway in south Minneapolis on October 11, 2008. He is currently serving a life sentence.

“The shooting had all the hallmarks of a gang-related drive-by shooting, but no one believed that Jesse, who was not a gang member, was the target,” said a statement from Attorney General Keith Ellison's office.

At trial, prosecutors relied primarily on eyewitness accounts that identified Barrientos as the shooter, as well as another witness who claimed to have been in a passing car at the time of the shooting. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, unsuccessfully argued that Barrientos had been shopping in St. Paul and could not have driven to the crime scene in time.

The state Conviction Review Unit (CRU) filed a 182-page report on Wednesday arguing for the dismissal of all charges against Barrientos, arguing that surveillance video and the defendant's phone records confirmed his alibi and that there was “no physical evidence” linking him to the crime.

Surveillance footage showed Barrientos at a Cub Foods on St. Paul's east side 33 minutes before Mickelson was shot. Phone records — which were never shown to jurors — showed Barrientos at his girlfriend's Maplewood apartment 27 minutes after the shooting.

“Mr. Barrientos could not have traveled to the crime scene and back in less than an hour. The jury never heard this evidence confirming Mr. Barrientos' alibi,” the Attorney General's Office said.

The report also claims that eyewitness descriptions of the shooter were inconsistent with Barrientos' appearance. Seven eyewitnesses said in interviews that the shooter was “a Hispanic man with a bald or shaved head.” However, surveillance footage allegedly showed Barrientos with short, dark hair.

The CRU's investigation also revealed problems with the process for identifying eyewitnesses and the prosecution's main witness, a gang member who could be considered “unreliable” because he testified under “coercive questioning” that he was in the car with Barrientos and because there were “completely contradictory reports about the shooting and its aftermath.”

The case will now be forwarded to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office for review.

District Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a statement: “The allegations uncovered by the Attorney General's investigation and described in the defense raise serious concerns.”

Moriarty says a judge will have the final say on the appeal.