The Department of Justice opened a civil rights probe into Minneapolis-area Hennepin County Attorney’s Office for its new requirement for prosecutors to take race into consideration when it negotiates plea deals.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, Acting Associate Attorney General Chad Mizelle and Assistant Attorney General of the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon sent a letter to Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty informing her that the DOJ is investigating whether the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office “engaged in a pattern of practice of depriving persons of rights, privileges or immunities secured or protect by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
The letter cited the new policy, entitled “Negotiations Policy for Cases Involving Adult Defendants.” This policy tells prosecutors to take race into consideration when creating plea offers. It states that “racial identity… should be part of the overall analysis” and that prosecutors “should be identifying and addressing racial disparities at decision points, as appropriate.”
The letter stated as well that “[I]n particular, the investigation will focus on whether HCAO engages in illegal consideration of race in its prosecutorial decision-making.”
The probe will include “a comprehensive review of all relevant HCAO policies and practices that may involve the illegal consideration of race in prosecutorial decision-making,” Bondi, Mizelle and Dhillon said.
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A “full investigation to determine whether the HCAO is engaged in a pattern or practice of depriving persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States” was authorized by Dhillon as well.
“Please be assured that we have not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation. We will consider all relevant information, and we welcome your assistance in helping to identify what that might be. We would appreciate your cooperation in our investigation. In our years enforcing civil rights statutes involving state and local law enforcement agencies, we have worked with jurisdictions of all sizes across the nation to resolve investigations, usually without contested litigation,” the letter stated.
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