A request for post-conviction relief has been filed on behalf of a man who is currently in prison serving a life sentence at Faribault prison after being accused of killing a woman nearly three decades ago.

On Thursday, the Great North Innocence Project announced that members of the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit (CRU) had reviewed the case of now-62-year-old Brian Pippitt for the past two years.

During that review, members say they went through materials and interviews, and believe he was wrongfully convicted in 2001 of murdering 84-year-old Evelyn Malin, who was found dead at her Aitkin County home in February 1998. Malin was the storekeeper of a convenience store connected to her home and was found beaten and strangled.

Jim Cousins, an attorney at Centurion, says Pippitt is “completely innocent” and “was not involved in that crime whatsoever.” Others involved in the investigation of the case included the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office and a law school clinic class at Mitchell Hamline Law School, according to Cousins.

Later in the day Thursday, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison issued a statement on the case:

“After determining that Mr. Pippitt’s application for review had merit, the Conviction Review Unit conducted a careful, lengthy, objective review of the case, during which it engaged outside experts and sought and incorporated diverse opinions. It has now issued its report: I endorse its findings and encourage everyone to read it carefully. Our goal is to ensure that no innocent person is serving time in a Minnesota prison for a crime they did not commit. No person or community is safer, and justice is not served, when an innocent person is convicted and imprisoned. The only person that is served by a wrongful conviction is the perpetrator who committed the crime.”

Keith Ellison

According to the Great North Innocence Project, a large factor in Pippitt’s conviction was the testimony from Raymond Misquadace, who told jurors he was with Pippitt and three others at the time they broke into a store connected to Malin’s home. During the break-in, Misquadace said they stole cigarettes and beer and murdered Malin.

Project officials say this testimony was part of a plea deal that would result in other outstanding felony charges. In addition, the Great North Innocence Project claims a jailhouse informant also testified, who told jurors and court officials that Pippitt confided in him about participating in the murder.

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension also sent in testimony claiming the group of men entered Malin’s home through a basement window and left by using the front door, according to those investigating Pippitt’s case.

Since those testimonies were given, project leaders say Misquadace has admitted to fabricating his confession with help from police, and that the jail informant “was psychotic at the time of his testimony against Mr. Pippitt,” adding he received a secret benefit from prosecutors.

In addition, project members say the informant has disavowed his original testimony, new forensic analysis disproves Misquadace’s original testimony and new evidence shows no beer or cigarettes were stolen from the store, and the door used by the suspects to leave Malin’s home was locked with a deadbolt that needed a key.

“It is an unconscionable injustice that anyone would now block his immediate release,” said Cousins.

Ellison’s office says the county attorney who prosecuted Pippitt left office in 2007 and was later disbarred from practicing law in Minnesota. In addition, his office says two alternative suspects were never fully investigated, and Pippitt’s defense attorney didn’t present either of the alternate suspects to jurors.

The Aitkin County Attorney’s Office has 20 days to respond to the group’s filing. 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS has reached out to the attorney’s office for comment but was told the county attorney is out of the office until Monday.

Both the petition and the memorandum filed on behalf of Pippitt can be found below.