DOJ investigating after woke Minneapolis prosecutor ordered team to factor race into plea deals
The Department of Justice announced Saturday that it was opening a racial discrimination investigation into the Minneapolis-area Hennepin County Attorney's Office following its embrace of a policy that requires prosecutors to factor a criminal defendant's race into plea deal negotiations.
Hennepin County attorney Mary Moriarty, a leftist who has long enjoyed the support of George Soros-backed organizations including TakeAction Minnesota, recently sent a memo to prosecutors in her office titled "Negotiations Policy for Cases Involving Adult Defendants."
The memo, first reported by Lou Raguse of KARE-TV, states that "while racial identity and age are not appropriate grounds for departures [from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines], proposed resolutions should consider the person charged as a whole person, including their racial identity and age."
"While these factors should not be controlling, they should be part of the overall analysis," continued Moriarty. "Racial disparities harm our community, lead to distrust, and have a negative impact on community safety."
Moriarty, who recently refused to charge a worker in Democratic Gov. Tim Walz's administration who allegedly vandalized multiple Teslas, added that "prosecutors should be identifying and addressing racial disparities at decision points, as appropriate."
'Lady Justice is blindfolded for a reason.'
Jill Hasday, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, told KARE that the policy "both says, 'Don't take race into account,' presumably because of the constitutional problems with taking race into account in addition to potentially political objections, but it simultaneously says this is something you should consider."
"The problem for the drafters of this policy is, once you take race into account, it doesn't really matter what else you say," continued Hasday. "The policy is going to be struck down."
The DOJ evidently took interest after the policy was brought to light and critics noted that Moriarty may be in violation of federal law 18 U.S.C. § 242, which makes it a crime for anyone — "under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom" — to willfully subject any person "to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens."
"The investigation will focus on whether the HCAO engages in the illegal consideration of race in its prosecutorial decision-making," said a May 2 letter signed by Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division.
While the DOJ will focus on the "discriminatory" policy outlined in Moriarty's memo, investigators will also review all of the HCAO's policies and practices "that may involve the illegal consideration of race in prosecutorial decision-making."
The DOJ may, for instance, take a look at Moriarty's related "collateral consequences policy," which requires prosecutors to notify a supervisor if a defendant might face "major collateral consequences" from prosecution, such as "immigration consequences" or "loss of or inability to obtain public benefits."
Dhillon noted Sunday evening, "Lady Justice is blindfolded for a reason," adding that the DOJ will "investigate and take action wherever necessary to identify government practices that may run afoul of our civil rights norms."
Daniel Borgertpoepping, a spokesman for the HCAO, told WCCO-TV in a statement Sunday, "We are aware of the letter from the Department of Justice posted to social media but have not received it. Our office will cooperate with any resulting investigation and we're fully confident our policy complies with the law."
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