Myon Burrell, the man whose life sentence for the murder of an 11-year-old girl in Minneapolis was commuted in late 2020 after he served 18 years, was stopped by police Tuesday while driving erratically in Robbinsdale and arrested on suspicion of having a loaded gun and illicit drugs with him, officials said.
Burrell, 37, was pulled over in an SUV shortly before 11 a.m. on N. 42nd Avenue and was jailed on suspicion of illegal weapons possession as well as accusations of driving while intoxicated and illegal drug possession.
Police said marijuana and "additional suspected drugs" were in the vehicle, but did not disclose how much marijuana Burrell allegedly had with him. New law in Minnesota makes it legal to possess or transport up to 2 ounces of cannabis flower in a public place.
In December 2020, Burrell left Stillwater prison after the Minnesota Board of Pardons voted to immediately release him from a life sentence in connection with the 2002 fatal shooting of Tyesha Edwards, who was killed when a stray bullet penetrated her Minneapolis home while she was doing her math homework at her dining room table. Burrell has always declared he had nothing to do with Tyesha's killing.
Gov. Tim Walz, a member of the Board of Pardons, proposed commuting Burrell's life term to 20 years and requiring him to serve the remainder of the time — two years — on supervised release. That supervision expired in December.
At the time, Walz noted that the board's commutation was not a determination of guilt or innocence, but it was motivated by the "exceptionally long" sentence he received as a juvenile.
A message was left with Burrell's attorney Tuesday afternoon seeking a response to the allegations.
According to a Robbinsdale police statement and a search warrant affidavit filed Tuesday afternoon in Hennepin County District Court:
An officer on routine patrol saw the SUV "deviating from its lane of travel" on N. 42nd Avenue and straddling the two eastbound lanes. While following the SUV, the officer saw the driver "going over the lane divider and the fog line" while exceeding the speed limit.
The officer pulled Burrell over at N. Indiana Avenue and Lake Drive and spotted "an indication of active drug use in the vehicle," according to the statement. The affidavit noted that the officer observed "smoke pour out the [SUV's] window."
Burrell was asked by the officer to exit the SUV to perform roadside testing for possible substance impairment. However, he "attempted to walk away and then fought with officers."
Police spokesman John Elder said numerous officers ended up responding to the scene, and none was hurt during Burrell's brief resistance that ended when "they put a series of holds on him."
A search by police of the SUV turned up the loaded handgun in the front center console, along with unpackaged marijuana and additional suspected drugs.
The search warrant affidavit was submitted to the court for permission to collect a sample of Burrell's blood to be tested for illicit drug or alcohol use, Elder said.
Burrell's release capped years of fights to clear his name that eventually stalled. Then the Associated Press published an investigation in 2020 raising several concerns with the police investigation and his prosecution.
Also, an independent panel of national experts released a study calling for Burrell's release from prison. The study echoed the Associated Press' findings and cited law enforcement's reliance on jailhouse informants and investigators' apparent dismissal of potentially exonerating evidence as cause for his release, among other factors.
