Families of crime victims rally in Minneapolis to protest County Attorney Mary Moriarty

About 50 crime victims, relatives and supporters rallied outside the Hennepin County Government Center on Wednesday to put more pressure on County Attorney Mary Moriarty over plea deals offered in murder cases.

One by one they came up to the microphone to share their frustration over what they say is a lack of justice from Moriarty's office. They included family members of Steven Markey, a 39-year-old paralegal gunned down in Minneapolis by teen carjackers in 2019. His family has criticized Moriarty's offer of probation to one of the shooters, Husayn Braveheart, who is being sentenced later this month.

Markey's family asked Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to intervene to no avail, circulated a petition online and filed complaints with the state. Their latest effort to stop the plea is asking Moriarty to reassign the case because they say she has a conflict of interest.

Moriarty was the county's chief public defender when Braveheart was arrested and charged. Markey's mother, an attorney, said Moriarty told her that she was familiar with the case before taking over the prosecutor's office in January.

In a statement to the Star Tribune, Moriarty denied that, saying she "had no involvement in or knowledge of this case prior to becoming County Attorney." Nor are there grounds for her to recuse herself, the statement said.

Markey's brother, Brian Markey, spoke briefly at the rally.

"She's doing this under the auspices of eliminating mass incarceration," he said. "However all of us will now be inhabiting the open-air prison."

The rally comes at a time when Moriarty is facing multiple accusations from victims' families that she's offering lenient plea deals and then not telling them about it until just before the plea hearing.

The same day of Braveheart's sentencing Oct. 23, another murder case is headed for a plea deal offer of four years, of which two-thirds will be served in prison. Loved ones of Antonio Moore, 37, who was fatally stabbed in May while trying to protect his sister, say that Moriarty only recently informed them of the plea deal.

Moore's cousin, Pearll Warren, said Moriarty previously told the family that "she was going to ensure that charges were pressed to the full extent of the law."

"We want you [Moriarty] to be able to see the wrong that is happening out here and do not loose these individuals back on the streets. It's a public safety issue," Warren said. "We pay their salaries. They work for us. Our voice matters."

The families of victims need to speak out even if it doesn't change Moriarty's mind, said Paul Greer, the stepfather of Zaria McKeever, who was gunned down in her home by teens in November. After mounting pressure, Ellison intervened and agreed to prosecute one of the McKeever cases. "You never know who is listening," Greer said. "Don't give up."

Ellison has said he doesn't anticipate taking a case from Moriarty again.

Activist KG Wilson said he's seen drug dealers serve more time than some murderers. His 6-year-old granddaughter Aniya Allen was killed by a stray bullet in May 2021. The case remains unsolved.

"There's no way I could sit in a courtroom and watch anybody … hand 24 months, 40 months or whatever, to the person who murdered my granddaughter. There's no way. … My heart goes out to you families. This is a damn nightmare."

Moriarty issued another statement after the rally:

"Our hearts go out to all who have suffered as a result of violence in our communities. Our goal is to protect and improve community safety by looking at the unique circumstances of each case and doing everything we can to prevent something similar from happening again by holding people accountable in a meaningful way. Sometimes that means a long prison sentence and, in some cases, other tools give us a much better chance of protecting public safety."