The death of Zaria McKeever: Police union slams county attorney's move not to charge teens as adults
MINNEAPOLIS – Two teenagers charged with killing a young Twin Cities mother won't be tried as adults. And now Minnesota's largest police association wants the state to step in and change that.
Prosecutors say the ex-boyfriend of 23-year-old Zaria McKeever orchestrated her death. They allege Erick Haynes, 24, ordered two boys to bust into her Brooklyn Park apartment and shoot her last November.
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Those two teenagers accepted plea deals that will send them to a juvenile program instead of prison. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty stands by her decision.
"I believe that this is the correct decision to make," Moriarty said. "This was actually a domestic homicide that was orchestrated by an adult."
But Imran Ali, general counsel for the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association, calls it a miscarriage of justice.
"This was an execution. It was a premeditated execution," Ali said. "And not to be given the attention and the importance that it deserves in our criminal justice system."
Haynes is facing two counts of second-degree murder. Two other adults are facing charges for lying to police.
