Frazier, Folk advance to November as Hennepin County weighs future of criminal justice reform

As polls closed Aug. 11, voters in Hennepin County came one step closer to deciding whether a Black progressive or a former U.S. Attorney should succeed Mary Moriarty as Hennepin County Attorney. Minnesota’s largest county remains a battleground for reforming the criminal legal system. Under Moriarty, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office vacated three wrongful convictions and criminally charged two federal ICE agents.

State Rep. Cedrick Frazier secured 87,447 first-place votes (35.95%). Anders Folk netted 55,610 second-place votes (22.86%). Frazier and Folk edged out Diane M. Krenz, Hao Nguyen and Matt Pelikan.

Folk views this race as a referendum on Moriarty’s tenure. “There are two clear paths forward in this race,” Folk told the Spokesman-Recorder. “For the last four years, the County Attorney’s Office has placed rhetoric over results. That status quo approach is not working. It is time for a change.”

Frazier touted his endorsements from nine labor unions and multiple state legislators. “You can’t fake the coalition that we built. This is a real coalition,” Frazier said. “It’s a coalition of labor, elected officials and community members. You can’t fake any of that.”

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged federal immigration agent Christian J. Castro with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime after he shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis before claiming without evidence that he was assaulted. The Justice Department turned over a massive trove of previously withheld evidence to local prosecutors, including agent statements, body-worn camera footage and Renee Good’s vehicle, following a months-long standoff with the Trump administration.

The case against Castro has stalled as the ICE agent remains inside a Texas jail. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has yet to review Moriarty’s request to extradite Castro to Minnesota.

Frazier said he is open to working with other prosecutors nationwide. “I’m going to work with other lawyers around the country that have expertise working on these federal cases,” he said.

Folk anticipates that any forthcoming charges against ICE agents will be moved from state to federal court. “The prosecution of federal agents will be litigated in federal court,” Folk said. “I am also uniquely positioned to lead this work as the only candidate with federal court experience.” Folk now promotes his casework against al-Qaeda affiliates in Somalia, ISIS and anarchist groups as practical experience for prosecuting ICE agents.

The Revolving Door Project’s Mariama Eversley said Folk’s background left him unqualified to lead criminal justice reform: he spent seven years in corporate law at Stinson Leonard Street before Trump appointee Erica MacDonald named him First Assistant U.S. Attorney. Folk later served as acting U.S. Attorney for Minnesota in 2021.

“Attorney offices prioritize new sources of talent, like public defenders and other public interest lawyers, instead of the same tough-on-crime prosecutors and corporate law attorneys that usually fill these roles,” Eversley said. “Grassroots calls for cultural and institutional transformation of our criminal justice system must be met with personnel who are ready for the job.”

Attorney General Keith Ellison said a budget crunch forced Minnesota to suspend the state’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) after the federal government declined to renew its Justice Department grant. Activists have called on the state Legislature to fully fund the unit. The HCAO now operates the state’s only civil rights investigative team tasked with overturning wrongful convictions.

Drawing on his upbringing on Chicago’s South Side, Frazier said he would continue Hennepin County’s CIU. “We’re going to make sure we keep that office in place, that division in place, the conviction integrity unit, because that is exactly what that does,” he said.

Hennepin County’s CIU secured the exonerations of Marvin Haynes and Edgar Barrientos-Quintana under Moriarty. A total of 239 applications were filed claiming that an innocent person was convicted or a serious legal error occurred. The CIU is investigating 77 cases and has closed 80. Despite his criticisms of Moriarty, Folk said he would retain the current CIU staff and “look forward to working with Andrew Markquart at the County Attorney’s Office.”

The HCAO launched the Workers Protection Unit in 2024 to investigate and prosecute local employers who engage in wage theft, labor trafficking and extreme workplace safety violations. The unit secured Minnesota’s first-ever criminal wage theft conviction against a contractor who stole over $37,000 from his labor crew. Prosecutors are actively pursuing criminal charges against Bishop Harding Smith, accused of withholding roughly $150,000 in employee payroll. The unit’s pressure on county labor standards led to $335,000 in back wages for over 100 subcontracted security guards.

Both candidates said they would keep the unit in place. “I have spent time speaking with labor leaders and will partner with them to ensure the investigation and prosecution of wage theft is a priority,” Folk said. Frazier said keeping the unit will make the county safer. “Wage theft is a crime,” he said. “It destabilizes families, which in turn destabilizes communities, which leads to public safety issues.”

Absentee and early voting starts Sept. 18 for the general election. Oct. 13 is the deadline to pre-register to vote. General Election Day is Nov. 3. For more information, visit www.hennepincounty.gov/services/elections/absentee-early-voting.

Clint Combs is a freelance journalist and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder. He welcomes reader responses at combs0284@gmail.com.