2020 News Archives

Rosario: Circling the square to square the circle: Restorative justice and the toppled Columbus statue. “It is inherently a good thing if this can encourage more conversation and deeper understanding and learning instead of acting mechanically to a situation in the community,” Choi noted during a chat. “Transforming and empowering the community to be more involved through a restorative justice lens can have great benefits to incidents that happen in the community.” (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, December 7, 2020)

Activist who toppled Columbus statue at Capitol gets community service. Prosecutors have agreed to drop felony charges against the American Indian Movement activist that toppled the statue of Christopher Columbus in front of the Minnesota Capitol in June. (Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul, MN, December 7, 2020)

Ramsey County sending fewer people to prison. Ramsey County has reduced the number of people sent to prison by nearly half in the past decade as part of a focused strategy to end the era of mass incarcerations. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, November 28, 2020)

Incarceration rates decrease in Ramsey County, but racial disparities remain. Ramsey County, unlike other metro counties, decreased its prison admissions consistently year-to-year. Although, people of color, particularly Blacks and Native Americans, are continuing to make up a disproportionate number. Ramsey County officials discussed the data and their efforts at a board workshop last week. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, November 22, 2020)

MN awarded grant to review legal cases of those believed to be innocent. The Minnesota Conviction Review Unit will prevent, identify and rectify wrongful convictions. It also will develop policies to address the most common causes of wrongful convictions and help identify who actually committed the crime if possible. Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman both submitted letters of support for the Conviction Review Unit. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, October 8, 2020)

Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington County attorney's offices launch new expungement tool. The attorney's offices for Hennepin, Ramsey and Washington Counties as well as the state Attorney General's Office have announced they are launching a new tool to help ensure residents have equal access to the systems available to seal their criminal records. (KSTP, St. Paul, MN, October 1, 2020)

East-metro program that helps low-level offenders seal criminal records goes statewide. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison on Thursday announced the statewide launch of HelpSealMyRecord.org, through which prosecutors will initiate expungement of eligible offenses from Minnesotans’ criminal records anywhere in the state at no cost. The Hennepin County Attorney’s office announced that it, too, is joining the initiative. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, October 1, 2020)

Exclusive: Trump policing panel was warned about secretive process before court ruling. Two local prosecutors assigned to smaller working groups that support the commission - John Choi of Ramsey County, Minnesota, and Mark Dupree of Wyandotte County, Kansas - wrote to the panel on May 29 expressing concern its recommendations would not sufficiently address “racial disparities in policing” and would “erode local prosecutorial discretion.” (Reuters, London, England, October 1, 2020)

Judge rules federal law enforcement commission violates law, orders work stopped as attorney general prepares to issue report. A national commission on policing launched earlier this year by President Trump and Attorney General William P. Barr has violated federal law by seating only people in law enforcement and failing to include members with different perspectives such as civil rights activists, defense attorneys or mental health professionals, a federal judge ruled Thursday as he halted the group’s work. (The Washington Post, Washington D.C., October 1, 2020)

Ramsey County looks to reform cash bail system. Ramsey County leaders plan to ease the county’s reliance on a cash bail system for criminal suspects awaiting charges and trial, saying it unduly burdens the poor and exacerbates racial inequities in the criminal justice system.  (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, September 15, 2020)

Prosecutor resigns from Trump law enforcement commission, calls it 'intent on providing cover for a predetermined agenda' One of the four leading prosecutors chosen to be on President Donald Trump's law enforcement commission resigned last week after expressing "serious" concerns that the intention of the commission was not to bridge the gap between communities of color and law enforcement. (CNN, Atlanta, Georgia, September 11, 2020)

Ramsey County Attorney Choi resigns from presidential commission, saying it had ‘predetermined agenda’ Ramsey County Attorney John Choi submitted a letter of resignation from a presidential criminal justice commission, saying it became obvious the process “was intent on providing cover for a predetermined agenda that ignores the lessons of the past, furthering failed tough-on-crime policies that led to our current mass incarceration crisis.” (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, September 11, 2020)

John Choi Presidential Commission resignation letter. John Choi was honored to be selected by the Department of Justice to participate on the Criminal Justice Systems Personnel Intersection Working Group to the Presidential Commission on Law Enforcement and the Administration of Justice ("Commission"). As a working group member, he hoped to provide perspectives and expertise on racial disparities, policing and the criminal justice system and to provide recommendations to the Commission. He became increasingly concerned about several important issues related to the Commission's work. On May 29, 2020, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi and Wyandotte County District Attorney Mark A. Dupree, Sr., sent a joint letter expressing their concerns in detail, but received no response. In anticipation of the Commission providing a Final Report he doesn't agree with and that furthers the divide in our nation, John sent his resignation letter on September 3, 2020. 

Ramsey County attorney joins pilot program to reduce racial disparities in justice system. The program will advise Choi’s office about how to minimize what factor a person’s criminal history plays in decisions to file criminal charges, seek incarceration only as a last-resort punishment and consider declining to prosecute low-level and nonviolent charges that directly target Black people. (Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, July 8, 2020)

Now is the time for Minnesota to end driver’s license suspensions for unpaid fees. 
More than 80,000 Minnesotans currently have their driver’s license suspended for unpaid traffic tickets. Suspending licenses hasn’t worked as an enforcement tool. It’s time we acknowledge that and stop doing it. Driver’s license suspensions should be reserved for the sole purpose of ensuring safe roads, not demanding payment from people who may be struggling to meet their families’ basic needs. (MinnPost, Minneapolis, MN, May 7, 2020)

Bill would set standard for preserving rape kits in Minnesota. A 2018 law requires police agencies to collect rape kits within 10 days and submit them for testing within the following 60 days if a victim requests it. A new bill, sponsored by Rep. Marion O'Neill, R-Maple Lake, would ensure cases that aren’t reported to law enforcement are preserved. (Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul, MN, April 13, 2020)

Order allows Ramsey County inmates serving for misdemeanors, low-level felonies to be released to home-monitoring amid COVID-19. All inmates serving sentences for low-level, nonviolent offenses in Ramsey County as well as those classified as medically vulnerable will be released to electronic home monitoring. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, March 23, 2020)

Coronavirus triggers changes at Ramsey County Correctional Facility; talks continue about which inmates should be released. Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher said his staff is hoping to reduce the 500-inmate population currently housed at the county jail by 10 percent — or about 50 inmates — so that the facility has room to clear one of its 10-pods for use as a quarantine site within the facility, he said Tuesday. (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, March 17, 2020)

41 prosecutors blast Attorney General Barr for ‘dangerous and failed’ approach to criminal justice. Forty-one elected prosecutors in a joint statement condemned Attorney General William P. Barr for his recent rhetoric that attacked progressive policies, arguing that his “dangerous and failed” approach to criminal justice disproportionately punished poor people and racial minorities while diverting resources away from more serious crimes. (The Washington Post, Washington D.C., February 13, 2020)

Archdiocese settles after clergy sex abuse, begins internal monitoring. It brings to an end four years of court monitoring brought about after Ramsey County Attorney John Choi filed civil and criminal charges against the archdiocese for its failure in handing the clergy sex-abuse crisis.  (Pioneer Press, St. Paul, MN, January 28, 2020)