Michael Freeman | |
---|---|
County Attorney of Hennepin County | |
In office January 3, 2007 –January 2, 2023 | |
Preceded by | Amy Klobuchar |
Succeeded by | Mary Moriarty |
In office January 7,1991 –January 5,1999 | |
Preceded by | Tom Johnson |
Succeeded by | Amy Klobuchar |
Member of the Minnesota Senate from the 40th district | |
In office January 4,1983 –January 7,1991 | |
Preceded by | John B. Keefe |
Succeeded by | Phil Riveness |
Personal details | |
Born | Michael Orville Freeman May 7,1948 Minneapolis,Minnesota,U.S. |
Political party | Democratic |
Children | 5 |
Parent(s) | Orville Freeman Jane Shields |
Alma mater | Rutgers University (BA) University of Minnesota (JD) |
Occupation | Attorney,politician |
Michael Orville Freeman (born May 7,1948) is an American attorney and politician who served as the county attorney for Hennepin County from 2007 to 2023. [1] While in office,he was the official responsible overseeing several high-profile criminal cases of excessive police force,including several unlawful killings by law enforcement officers. Freeman filed criminal charges against Derek Chauvin and three other Minneapolis police officers responsible for the murder of George Floyd in 2020,before the Minnesota Attorney General's office took over the case.
Freeman was raised and educated in Minneapolis before moving to the Washington,D.C. area when his father joined the cabinet of President John F. Kennedy. He is a graduate of Maryland's Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. [2] Freeman received a Bachelor of Arts from Rutgers University in 1970 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1974. [3] He is the son of Jane Shields and Orville Freeman,who was a Minnesota governor and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture under presidents Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. [4]
A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party,Freeman was elected to the Minnesota Senate in 1982,representing the old District 40,which included the city of Richfield and a portion of Bloomington in Hennepin County. He was re-elected in 1986,serving as Majority Whip during his second term (1987–1991). He was also vice chair of the Finance Committee from 1987 to 1991,and of the Economic Development and Commerce Committee from 1983 to 1986. He also chaired the Economic Development Subcommittee from 1983 to 1986. [3]
Freeman was elected Hennepin County Attorney in 1990,serving until 1999. He ran for county attorney again in 2006 after incumbent Amy Klobuchar opted to run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Mark Dayton,and he was elected by a wide margin. [1]
Freeman ran twice for governor of Minnesota. In 1994 he lost the DFL Party endorsement to John Marty. Marty was later defeated in the general election by incumbent Governor Arne Carlson. In 1998 he won the DFL Party endorsement but lost the primary election to Skip Humphrey,who went on to lose the general election to Jesse Ventura. [1]
In 2019,Freeman took a short leave of absence to enter a treatment program for alcohol addiction. [5]
On September 1,2021,Freeman announced that he would retire at the end of his term after 24 years in the role. [6]
As County Attorney,Freeman has notably dealt with several police brutality cases. Freeman filed charges against Mohamed Noor for the shooting of Justine Damond, [7] but declined to charge the officers involved in the shooting of Jamar Clark [8] or the shooting of Thurman Blevins. [9] However,police body camera footage confirmed that Blevins had in fact fired gunshots at the officers before they returned fire. [10] [9] [11]
In 2020,Freeman filed charges similar to Noor's against officer Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd. [12] In the wake of the George Floyd killing,a group launched a petition drive to have Freeman recalled. [13] On September 11,2020,Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill banned Freeman and three of his staffers from working on the cases against the former Minneapolis police officers charged in George Floyd's murder,including State v. Chauvin . [14] The ruling related to a meeting some staff lawyers had with the Hennepin County medical examiner,a likely witness in the case,which allegedly violated the rules of professional conduct for attorneys. [14] Nevertheless,Freeman still played a vital role in Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's prosecution team that would successfully secure Chauvin's conviction on April 20,2021,providing "strategic advice and coordination" to other Hennepin County attorneys who served on the team. [15]
The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) is the primary law enforcement agency in Minneapolis,Minnesota,United States. It is also the largest police department in Minnesota. Formed in 1867,it is the second-oldest police department in Minnesota,after the Saint Paul Police Department that formed in 1854. A short-lived Board of Police Commissioners existed from 1887 to 1890.
On November 15,2015,two police officers fatally shot Jamar Clark,a 24-year-old African-American man,in Minneapolis. The two shooters were Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze. They were a part of the Minneapolis Police Department which subsequently placed the men on paid administrative leave. The night after Ringgenberg and Schwarze shot him,Clark died at the Hennepin County Medical Center after being taken off life support. His death resulted from one of the gunshot wounds the shooters inflicted on November 15.
On May 25,2020,George Floyd,a 46-year-old black American man,was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin,a 44-year-old white police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk alleged that he made a purchase using a counterfeit $20 bill. Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed and lying face-down in a street. Two other police officers,J. Alexander Kueng and Thomas Lane,assisted Chauvin in restraining Floyd. Lane had also pointed a gun at Floyd's head before Floyd was handcuffed. A fourth police officer,Tou Thao,prevented bystanders from intervening.
Derek Michael Chauvin is an American former police officer who was convicted of murdering George Floyd,a 46-year-old African-American man,in Minneapolis,Minnesota. Chauvin was a member of the Minneapolis Police Department from 2001 to 2020.
The George Floyd protests were a series of police brutality protests that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26,2020. The civil unrest and protests began as part of international reactions to the murder of George Floyd,a 46-year-old African American man,during an arrest. Derek Chauvin,a Minneapolis Police Department officer,knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as three other officers looked on and prevented passers-by from intervening. Chauvin and the other three officers involved were later arrested. In April 2021,Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder,third-degree murder,and second-degree manslaughter. In June 2021 Chauvin was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison with possibility of supervised release after 15 years for second-degree murder.
George Perry Floyd Jr. was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis,Minnesota,during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill,on May 25,2020. Derek Chauvin,one of the four police officers who arrived on the scene,knelt on Floyd's neck and back for 9 minutes and 29 seconds which caused a lack of oxygen. After his murder,protests against police brutality,especially towards black people,quickly spread across the United States and globally. His dying words,"I can't breathe",became a rallying slogan.
8 minutes 46 seconds (8:46) is a symbol of police brutality that originated from the murder of George Floyd on May 25,2020,in Minneapolis,Minnesota,United States. Derek Chauvin,a police officer,knelt on Floyd's neck,asphyxiating him. The duration that Chauvin spent kneeling was reported for weeks as 8 minutes 46 seconds,and later as 7 minutes 46 seconds,until body camera footage released in August 2020 showed that the actual time was 9 minutes 29 seconds. In the days following his murder,and the protests that followed,the duration became a focus of commemorations and debates,especially around Blackout Tuesday.
The following is a timeline of race relations and policing in Minneapolis–Saint Paul,providing details with a history of policing in the Twin Cities in the U.S. state of Minnesota from the nineteenth century to the present day. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office,with its headquarters in downtown Minneapolis,is one of the "largest law enforcement agencies in Minnesota" with division and unit facilities throughout Hennepin County. Twin cities,Saint Paul and Minneapolis,have their own police departments,the Minneapolis Police Department,which was established in 1867 and the Saint Paul Police Department. A union for rank and file officers in Minneapolis—the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis —was established in 1917.
Local protests over the murder of George Floyd,sometimes called the Minneapolis riots or Minneapolis uprising,began on May 26,2020,and within a few days had inspired a global protest movement against police brutality and racial inequality. The initial events were a reaction to a video filmed the day before and circulated widely in the media of police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds while Floyd struggled to breathe,begged for help,lost consciousness,and died. Public outrage over the content of the video gave way to widespread civil disorder in Minneapolis,Saint Paul,and other cities in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in the five-day period of May 26 to 30 after Floyd's murder.
The George Floyd Square occupied protest is centered at the intersection of East 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis,Minnesota,United States and features several makeshift memorials and street art. The street intersection is where Derek Chauvin,a White police officer with the Minneapolis Police Department,murdered George Floyd,an unarmed 46-year-old Black man,on May 25,2020. The day after Floyd's murder,people began leaving memorials to him. The street intersection soon transitioned to a controversial occupation protest by people who had erected barricades to block vehicular traffic and transformed the space with amenities,social services,and public art of Floyd and that of other racial justice themes. The unofficial memorial and occupied protest zone was referred to as “autonomous”,"no-go",and "police-free",but local officials disputed such characterizations.
Dolal Idd was a 23-year-old Somali-American man who was killed in an exchange of gunfire with Minneapolis police officers at approximately 6:15 p.m. CST on December 30,2020,after he shot at them from inside the car he was driving. The fatal encounter happened in the U.S. state of Minnesota during a police sting operation.
Mary Frances Moriarty is an American attorney and politician serving as the County Attorney of Hennepin County,Minnesota. She is a member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL). Moriarty previously served as the Chief Public Defender of Hennepin County.
State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin was an American criminal case in the District Court of Minnesota in which former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was tried and convicted of the murder of George Floyd during an arrest on May 25,2020. Chauvin was found guilty of unintentional second-degree murder,third-degree murder,and second-degree manslaughter;the first charge could have carried a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison. It was the first conviction of a white officer in Minnesota for the murder of a black person. On June 25,2021,Chauvin was sentenced by the trial judge to 22+1⁄2 years in prison for second-degree murder,10 years more than the sentencing guidelines of 12+1⁄2 years.
Protests and civil disorder occurred in reaction to the killing of Daunte Wright on April 11,2021. Wright,a 20-year-old Black man,was fatally shot by police officer Kimberly Potter during a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center,Minnesota,United States. Protests that first began in Brooklyn Center spread to other locations in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area and then to other cities in the United States. Several nights of civil disorder in Brooklyn Center and adjacent cities resulted in sporadic looting and damage to a few hundred properties,including four businesses that were set on fire.
The aftermath of the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis–Saint Paul describes the result of civil disorder between May 26 and June 7,2020,in the Twin Cities metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Minnesota. Protests began as a response to the murder of George Floyd,a 46-year-old African-American man on May 25,after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on Floyd's neck for 9 minutes and 29 seconds as three other officers assisted during an arrest. The incident was captured on a bystander's video and it drew public outrage as video quickly circulated in the news media by the following day.
Law enforcement authorities fatally shot Winston Boogie Smith Jr.,a 32-year-old black American man,in the Uptown area of Minneapolis at 2:08 p.m. CDT on June 3,2021. Smith was being pursued by a U.S. Marshals Service task force that apprehends wanted fugitives. The arrest operation had the participation of undercover agents from several local police agencies in Minnesota. The officers did not use body cameras or dashcams when apprehending Smith. Controversy over the lack of law enforcement footage of the arrest operation led to local police agencies ceasing aid to the Marshals Service's fugitive task force,and to changes to body and dash camera policies by the Marshals and other federal law enforcement agencies.
In 2020 and 2021,several protests were held in the U.S. city of Minneapolis that coincided with judicial proceedings and the criminal trial of Derek Chauvin. As an officer with the Minneapolis Police Department,Chauvin was charged with the murder of George Floyd,an unarmed African American man who died during an arrest incident on May 25,2020. A bystander's video captured Chauvin kneeling on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes while Floyd struggled to breathe,lost consciousness,and died. Protesters opposed Chauvin's pre-trial release from jail on bail in October 2020. In the lead up to and during the criminal trial in early 2021,demonstrators sought conviction and maximum sentencing for Chauvin,and the enactment of police reform measures.
Amir Locke,a 22-year-old Black American man,was fatally shot on February 2,2022,by SWAT officer Mark Hanneman of the Minneapolis Police Department inside an apartment in Minneapolis,Minnesota,where police were executing a no-knock search warrant in a homicide investigation. The officer-involved shooting was reviewed by the office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison,the office of Hennepin County attorney Michael Freeman,and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Ellison and Freeman declined to file criminal charges against the officer who shot Locke in a report released on April 6,2022.
In the early 2020s,the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area in U.S. state of Minnesota experienced a wave of civil unrest,comprising peaceful demonstrations and riots,against systemic racism toward black Americans,notably in the form of police violence. A number of events occurred,beginning soon after the murder of George Floyd,an unarmed black man,by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25,2020. National Public Radio characterized the events as cultural reckoning on topics of racial injustice.
Leneal Frazier was a 40-year-old African American man who was killed in Minneapolis at about 12:30 a.m. on July 6,2021,in a car crash with officer Brian Cummings of the Minneapolis Police Department. That night,Cummings was pursuing a suspected thief in a vehicle at a high rate of speed through a residential neighborhood and ran a red light when he unintentionally struck Frazier's vehicle at a street intersection. Frazier,who was an innocent bystander and not involved in the police chase,died at the scene. Cummings faced criminal charges for operating his police vehicle negligently and causing Frazier's death. In mid 2023,he pleaded guilty to the criminal charge of vehicular homicide and received a nine-month prison sentence.
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