Latest felony charge says Myon Burrell had illicit drugs in his SUV, $60K in cash in his home
Myon Burrell, who was sentenced to life in prison as a teenager and released 18 years later after independent reporting revealed flaws in the murder case that sent him there, was charged Friday with felony drug possession one day after officers found illicit drugs in his vehicle and tens of thousands of dollars in his Crystal home.
Burrell, 38, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with fifth-degree drug possession in connection with what members of a county violent offender task force in connection with its investigation of drug trafficking, gun possession and gang activity.
Burrell remains jailed in Minneapolis in lieu of $75,000 bail ahead of a court appearance Monday. Messages were left Friday with his attorney for comment about the allegations.
This is the second time in less than nine months that Burrell has been arrested and charged with a felony drug offense.
According to Friday's criminal complaint:
Task force officers received information that Burrell was seen in an SUV with a gun and was selling fentanyl and ecstasy. Based on that information and a similar pending drug allegation, the officers stopped Burrell on Thursday.
Burrell refused to roll down the window when the officers initially approached and "took a long period of time" to open the door, the complaint read.
The officers searched the SUV and found a pill that test positive for methamphetamine in the driver's side door pocket and "small chunks of a suspected controlled substance" on the passenger side floor, the complaint continued.
A search of his home by the officers turned up a suitcase with $60,000 in cash and a business card with Burrell's name on it.
Burrell was 16 years old when he was arrested and charged with the fatal shooting in 2002 of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards, who was doing homework at the kitchen table of the family home in Minneapolis when a bullet fired from across the street pierced the home and struck and killed her.
After two trials, he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison and spent nearly two decades there before reporting by the Associated Press revealed flaws in the police investigation and the prosecutors' case against him. In 2020, Burrell's sentence was commuted to 20 years, and he was released from prison to spend the remaining two years on supervised release.
Last year, Burrell was arrested and charged with fifth-degree drug possession and illegal weapon possession after a traffic stop in Robbinsdale. A Hennepin County judge ruled last week that the stop and search by police of a vehicle Burrell was driving was valid.
Burrell's attorneys had argued there was no probable cause to stop Burrell or search his vehicle, "based on nothing more than an imaginary cloud of smoke that allegedly came from inside the vehicle." They cited a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that the smell of marijuana alone does not justify a search.
Judge Peter Cahill wrote in an order that the search was valid, citing moving violations visible in squad car footage and "green leafy debris in plain view" of a police officer as valid reasons to search the vehicle because of a potential offense of driving while intoxicated.
Both of Burrell's drug cases are being prosecuted by the Dakota County Attorney's Office because of a potential conflict of interest stemming from Burrell's role as a paid member of Mary Moriarty's campaign staff in 2022, when she successfully ran for Hennepin County attorney.
