Minnesota's Conviction Review Unit closing over "budget constraints," AG Ellison says

Minnesota's Conviction Review Unit is shutting down after losing federal funding, the state's attorney general announced Wednesday.

Minnesota became the seventh state in the country to develop a Conviction Review Unit to review potentially wrongful convictions when it began accepting applications in August 2021.

The Great North Innocence Project partnered with the state to create the unit with help from a $300,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. The grant was renewed in 2023 at $500,000 for a period of two more years, with the Minnesota Legislature providing additional funding.

The Conviction Review Unit applied for another renewal in 2025, but Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison says the Trump administration's Department of Justice denied it, and that "current budget constraints do not allow the program's costs to be absorbed without compromising other core responsibilities." 

Over the nearly five years it operated, the unit overturned three wrongful convictions and received over 1,000 applications from people who claim they were wrongfully convicted.

"I remain proud of the vital work the Unit performed, the impact it has had on individuals and the broader justice system, and the principles it championed," Ellison said. "If the opportunity arises in the future — through renewed funding or other means — I would welcome the chance to resume this important work."

Hennepin County started its own Conviction Integrity Unit two years ago, which serves a similar function as the state's Conviction Review Unit.