Most criminal matters are resolved by plea bargain before any witnesses are called to testify. The HCAO does not start looking for Brady material until an officer is “subpoenaed to testify in court.” This is too little, too late. Subpoena is too late to look for Brady material To meet their Constitutional obligation, the HCAO must proactively gather all evidence of police misconduct. This is a major gap in the new HCAO Brady policy. The policy should include as Brady material any sustained violation even if the sanction imposed is not defined as discipline by the law enforcement agency. “Disciplinary information” does not encompass the universe of Brady material that exists for certain police officers. He was sentenced to decades in federal prison for assaulting a 14 year boy, but he did not receive any discipline-not even a reprimand-for such egregious misconduct. Derek Chauvin is the most notorious example of lax discipline policies. The MPD rarely issues discipline, even when internal investigations sustain a complaint of misconduct. City leaders and the MPD doubled-down on making discipline optional and keeping this data from the view of the public and the courts by codifying the practice of “coaching” as a non-disciplinary and “nonpublic” sanction for a sustained violation in 2022. The new policy states that “it is now an expectation that law enforcement agencies disclose to the HCAO any disciplinary information proactively and voluntarily” (emphasis added). The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s new Brady policy released in mid-October does not pass constitutional muster and fails to take the steps needed to ensure justice for defendants in Hennepin County.ĭisciplinary files do not capture most police misconduct in Minneapolis Contact Editor Patrick Coolican for questions: Follow Minnesota Reformer on Facebook and Twitter.In our August opinion piece, Brady is a Constitutional Imperative-here is how to fix it in Minnesota, we outlined a few basic steps to improve Brady disclosure. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Patrick Coolican, Minnesota Reformer June 16, 2022 JNo special legislative session, no tax cuts, no extra education spendingīy J. No special legislative session, no tax cuts, no extra education spendingīy J. They expect to win the upcoming legislative election in November, when all 201 seats will be on the ballot, and Jensen has showed viability against Walz in a recent MinnPost poll.Ī GOP trifecta would leave them with billions of dollars to use on tax cuts, which over time would help them achieve another goal - a sharp reduction in the size of government. Republicans had good reason to walk away from negotiations. Scott Jensen, the likely GOP nominee for governor against Walz this fall, said he called Republican senators during the final week of the session and urged them to hold off. Lawmakers were never able to get the agreement passed into law, however.įormer state Sen. That deal called for $4 billion for tax cuts and $4 billion on spending increases during the next three years, while leaving $4 billion in the bank to soften the blow of a potential recession. Miller had agreed to the broad outlines of a bipartisan agreement about a week before the end of the regular session in May. “Even with a bipartisan legislative agreement to cut income taxes and end the tax on Social Security benefits, Democrats weren’t willing to pass this bill without billions more in spending,” Miller said in a statement.īecause lawmakers and Walz agreed to a two-year budget last year, the government won’t shut down, but inflation and the ongoing pandemic have created urgent needs for school districts, hospitals, state agencies and the millions of Minnesotans they serve. Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller blamed the Democrats’ desire for more spending. “This one is deeply disappointing because it feels like we were negotiating with ourselves over the last few weeks,” Walz said at a news conference with Hortman. Tim Walz and House Speaker Melissa Hortman, DFL-Brooklyn Park, blamed the Republican-majority Senate. Minnesotans confronting the highest inflation in decades won’t see any direct payments or tax cuts to ease the pain of high gas and grocery bills.ĭFL Gov. Republicans and Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmakers broke off negotiations Thursday, leaving billions of dollars on the table that will leave school districts scrambling to deal with budget shortfalls, and local governments without public works money to complete important projects.
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