Burrell charged with gun and drug possession

A Minneapolis man who had his prison sentence for murder commuted in 2020 is now facing new charges.

Myon Demarlo Burrell, 37, was stopped by Robbinsdale police Tuesday morning after an officer reportedly saw an SUV speeding and drifting over the center line.

Documents filed Friday charge Burrell with gun possession by an ineligible person and fifth-degree drug possession. Those charges were filed by the Dakota County Attorney’s Office, which is handling the case for the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to avoid any conflict of interest since Burrell was a paid staffer on Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s campaign.

The criminal complaint states that the Robbinsdale officer who stopped Burrell recorded his SUV going over the 30 mph speed limit. When the officer stopped the SUV and Burrell rolled down the driver’s side window, “Smoke appeared to billow out,” the complaint adds.

After smelling marijuana and noticing signs of intoxication in field sobriety tests, the officer told Burrell he was going to look in the SUV for marijuana. The complaint states that Burrell said the officer didn’t have permission and started walking away when the officer said he needed to sit in the back of the squad. However, Burrell was put in handcuffs and placed in the squad.

Inside the SUV, the officer then found a Glock 17 9 mm handgun and marijuana remnants, as well as a backpack that contained two bags of suspected marijuana, 21 capsules with a crystal-like powder inside and 16 suspected ecstasy pills, according to court documents. Testing later showed one of the 21 capsules contained meth and one of the 16 pills was positive for MDMA.

Burrell isn’t eligible to have a gun due to his prior murder conviction.

That conviction stems from the 2002 killing of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards. He was sentenced to life in prison as a teen but was freed after 18 years when the state’s pardons board commuted his sentence.

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He’s now scheduled to appear in court on Friday afternoon. He faces up to 15 years in prison on the gun charge and five years on the drug charge.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Editor’s note: The initial version of this story incorrectly cited the complaint as saying Burrell was recorded going 30 mph over the speed limit. It has been corrected to reflect that the officer stated Burrell was going over the speed limit, which was 30 mph.