State Board of Pardons decides Mitchell Hamline law student can seek parole after 18 more years

An imprisoned Mitchell Hamline School of Law student lost her bid Thursday for a quick release from the Minnesota correctional facility in Shakopee.

In her comments to the state Board of Pardons, delivered via live video from prison, Maureen Onyelobi, 37, apologized to the victim's family and sounded hopeful that she might get out soon, pledging to put her legal education to use helping others.

"No matter what the board decides today, I just want you to know I'm grateful and I will spend every day trying to make amends for my crime," Onyelobi, convicted of aiding and abetting first-degree murder, told the board made up of Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea. It was Gildea's final session before stepping down from the bench on Oct. 1.

The board unanimously agreed to reduce Onyelobi's sentence from life without parole to life with the possibility of parole, making her eligible to be considered for release by the state Department of Corrections after 27 years in prison, provided she stays out of trouble.

Onyelobi has served nine years in prison, making her potentially eligible for consideration in another 18 years.

Weighing heavily against her imminent release was the gravity of her crime. Onyelobi was convicted in November 2014 in the death of Anthony Fairbanks. At trial, prosecutors claimed Fairbanks was a heroin addict. He was facing a federal drug indictment in North Dakota at the time of his death, but had yet to be apprehended, court records show.

His co-defendant on the indictment was Maurice Wilson, Onyelobi's then-boyfriend. Wilson was in the Cass County jail at the time of the murder.

Prosecutors alleged that Onyelobi, Wilson and David Johnson regularly sold Fairbanks heroin. On the day of the murder, Wilson spoke to Onyelobi and Johnson on a recorded jail call about concerns that Fairbanks would be arrested and testify against him, putting him in prison for life. He repeatedly encouraged them to "take care of" Fairbanks so he couldn't testify, court records show.

Onyelobi did not kill Fairbanks. But by her own admission, she was in the vehicle when Johnson shot him four times in the head. She also helped set up the fatal meeting with Fairbanks, then hid the murder weapon — a handgun — in her newly acquired storage locker, according to court records.

Onyelobi and her supporters said she was in an extremely abusive and violent relationship with Wilson and under his control.

Surviving members of Fairbanks' family, including his mother and aunts, spoke to the board, saying that his birthday is Friday and he would have turned 33. The family opposed relief for Onyelobi, calling her a "cold-blooded murderer." One aunt said, "My Anthony didn't get a second chance, so why should she?"

Walz responded, "I'm deeply sorry that you have to relive this trauma."

"Anthony Fairbanks' life mattered," Ellison said. "No matter what his circumstances were, he still had the possibility of doing great things in this world and that has been taken away from him."

The attorney general told Onyelobi that given the gravity of her crime, "Your release anytime soon is not on the table for me."

After Ellison's statement, a male spectator stood up and loudly said, "Terrible process," as he walked out of the room.

Ellison continued, saying that the person who didn't pull the trigger, Onyelobi, shouldn't be sentenced to longer than the one who did. Johnson is expected to be released in November 2040.

Walz noted that the judge and prosecutor on Onyelobi's case also supported relief. "I do believe that the idea of life without the opportunity of parole is synonymous with a death penalty," he said. "The loss of hope is a dangerous thing."

Gildea, who wrote a Supreme Court decision upholding Onyelobi's conviction in 2016, spoke briefly in support of the shorter sentence. "I appreciate so much the courage of the victim's family," and the steps Onyelobi took to improve herself, the chief justice said.

Wilson was convicted of first-degree murder after a trial in Hennepin County District Court and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.