Martha Holton Dimick: Prosecution is a balancing act, but when a plea deal is wrong, we must respond

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I ran for Hennepin County Attorney last year because Black people in north Minneapolis were being killed and our leaders were not sending a clear message that there are consequences for committing serious crimes. My opponent, Mary Moriarty, did not share my vision for the office nor my judicial or prosecutorial experience. She hails from both the other side of the courtroom and the other side of Minneapolis.

After Moriarty was elected, I asked my supporters to give her a chance to grow into her new position. But that does not mean that we should stay quiet when we believe she is making the wrong decision. Even considering my expectations, this has happened with alarming frequency in the first three months of her tenure.

I was drawn to the case stemming from the fatal shooting of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever after I heard about County Attorney Moriarty's extreme departure from the original certification motion by her predecessor, Mike Freeman. (Most recent coverage: "Hennepin prosecutor defiant after AG takes case," April 8.) By doing so she usurped the court certification procedure and replaced it with her own unprecedented plea bargain.

I attended the initial news conference to quietly offer my support to the family and the community over a month ago. They organized diligently with the help of community leaders. The family knows that consequences for the perpetrators will not bring their loved one back. The patronizing posture toward the family from the county attorney and her defenders does not engender support.

Still, I share my former opponent's concerns about prosecuting teens as adults. Anyone who says that they are certain about the best course of action for a perpetrator is wrong. It was my job to evaluate these factors for 10 years as a judge and I will be honest: These cases are difficult. But that is why we look to precedent, we follow the law, we work with victims and we consider community impact. The perpetrators should not be the sole concern of the prosecutor.

In the McKeever case, Moriarty's plea bargain prioritized the perpetrators over the victim, her family and the safety of our community. Defense of the accused is the purview of the defense, not the county attorney. Sentencing is the purview of the judge, not the county attorney. I fear that Moriarty has lost sight of the role to which the voters of Hennepin County elected her.

We have had decades of criminal justice reform in the state of Minnesota and especially Hennepin County. In some areas, we've gone too far. In others, we still have work to do. We can call out a bad plea offer without being "tough on crime" or supporting "retribution."

My principal issue with this decision is that it would send the wrong message to the community. I live in a section of the county that is most impacted by violent crime. The word on the street following this case was that you can commit any crime if you're under 18 and "Mary" will give you two years or less in the event that you get caught. Our juvenile rehabilitation system in Hennepin County is broken. As the Hennepin County sheriff pointed out earlier this week, plea bargains like this will lead to more juvenile violent crime, and more teens entering a broken system after victimizing innocent community members.

Taking a case away from a county attorney is never an ideal outcome, and it should only be used as a last resort in extraordinary circumstances. But these are, indeed, extraordinary circumstances — the community impact and harmful precedent set by this case warrant intervention. I thank the governor and the attorney general for making the difficult decision to do so without the county attorney's cooperation. Their decision to step in and thwart this precedent in Hennepin County will save lives.

Martha Holton Dimick is a former assistant Hennepin County attorney, former deputy Minneapolis city attorney and former Fourth District judge. She was a candidate for Hennepin County attorney in 2022.