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Crime, Law and Justice
Cari Spencer

Judge considers vacating a murder conviction, 16 years to the day after the shooting

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A man serving a life sentence is one step closer to the possibility of walking free following an evidentiary hearing Friday — 16 years after the killing at the center of his case.

Edgar Barrientos-Quintana appeared in Hennepin County District Court via video stream. It was the first hearing since he filed for post-conviction relief in August, petitioning for his innocence after the Attorney General’s Conviction Review Unit concluded he was wrongfully convicted in the 2008 murder of Jesse Mickelson.

Mickelson’s sisters attended the hearing in support of Barrientos-Quintana, who they want to see released. A juror who convicted him more than 15 years ago watched nervously too, eager to see the man granted new freedom.

They all say the evidence in the CRU’s report makes it clear Barrientos-Quintana wasn’t the person who shot and killed Mickelson in 2008. That report says jurors never heard key evidence that corroborated Barrientos-Quintana’s alibi, and that there were glaring issues with eyewitness accounts, which the case largely hinged upon.

Judge John McBride said the court would review the defense’s case and issue a decision at a later date. Amid the anticipation in the room, he acknowledged another weight that lingered.

”It would be remiss to not acknowledge the 16th anniversary of the murder of Jesse Mickelson,” McBride said, addressing family members in the first row. “I want to acknowledge this is an important day for all of you.”

Christina Rosebear, Mickelson’s eldest sister, said the court asked if they would want to reschedule the hearing. But she wanted to keep it. She felt hope in the significance of it all — a sign that Barrientos-Quintana could be released.

”In my heart, I felt confident about it,” she said. “It also brought my brother somewhat into presence of the situation by being his anniversary. At 7 p.m. today is when we lost him.”

That afternoon, Rosebear remembered her brother as a shy kid who blossomed into an outgoing teenager through rap. He was loving toward his nieces and nephews, and “always looked out for us,” she said. Rosebear wonders if he would have had children, or if he would have made it in the music industry.

But she has those same questions of lost time for Barrientos-Quintana, who she believes to be innocent.

“I know what we’ve been through without our brother for 16 years. I could only imagine how [his family] felt without his presence, other than being able to visit him,” she said. “It’s not the same behind bars as being home for the holidays.”

If the judge vacates the conviction, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has said she would dismiss charges against Barrientos-Quintana. She pushed for his innocence last month.