Judge rejects plea deal in fatal carjacking case
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A Hennepin County District Judge rejected a plea deal Monday afternoon that would have given a man accused of taking part in a fatal attempted carjacking five years of probation.
Judge Michael Burns said there was not enough evidence shown to make the kind of departure from sentencing guidelines recommended by both prosecutors and defense attorneys.
The defendant, Husayn Bravehart, 20, is accused of taking part in an attempted carjacking in June 2019 that ended in the shooting death of 39-year-old Steven Markey.
Braveheart, then 15, and his co-defendant Jered Ohsman, then 17, tried to carjack Markey. Ohsman shot Markey, killing him, and Braveheart fired shots at Markey’s vehicle as he tried to drive away. Markey died shortly after.
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Ohsman was sentenced to nearly 22 years in prison. But the Hennepin County Attorney’s office and Public Defender’s office both agreed that Braveheart, because he’s been amenable to therapy and took a lesser role in the crime, should have an opportunity to have probation and continue therapy.
During a hearing Tuesday, Judge Burns heard from six of Markey’s family members, who talked about their gentle, compassionate brother, son and cousin. They urged the judge to reject the plea deal.
“I would suggest the public defenders and prosecutors should just push those tables together,” said Susan Markey, Steven’s sister, saying the two were advocating for the same thing.
“I know judges don’t often reject negotiated pleas, but this is the negotiated plea to reject,” she later added.
Braveheart took the stand to apologize for his actions and to apologize to the Markey family.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for my actions. I’m sorry for all the pain and anguish to your family,” he said. “If I could take my actions back I would in a heartbeat.”
Both prosecutors and Braveheart’s attorneys argued that long term, he would experience rehabilitation if he were to continue in therapy rather than him going to adult prison, which they said would likely make him more of a threat to the community when he’s released.
Judge Burns rejected that defense, saying while negotiated pleas are often the backbone of the court system, he couldn’t back this one.
He rejected Braveheart’s guilty plea and the agreement. The next hearing in the case is set for December.
After the hearing, Susan Markey said she was happy with the judge’s decision.
“We're grateful that he's willing to do the work to take an additional look at this case and dig deeper into the details,” she said. “So we're grateful that he made that decision, which is a brave decision.”
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office released a statement after the decision.
“We disagree with the judge’s decision,” the statement read. “The agreement balanced the possibility of severe punishment with the reality that this young man with a terrible childhood has succeeded when he was finally given access to intensive resources. His responsiveness thus far shows that continued serious treatment gives us the best chance to protect the public in the future. Instead, his treatment would likely end if he goes to adult prison and he would likely come out worse than when he went in. Our proposed sentence acknowledged this reality.”