MINNEAPOLIS — The murder conviction of the man blamed for the fatal shooting of North High student-athlete Deshaun Hill has been reversed after the Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled that videotaped statements made by the suspect were illegally obtained.
Cody Fohrenkam has been in prison since January of 2023 when a Hennepin County jury found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Deshaun Hill. The teen was out of school to attend a demonstration on the afternoon of Feb. 9, 2022, when investigators say he and Fohrenkam accidentally brushed shoulders while walking opposite ways down a sidewalk on Glenwood Ave. At least one witness said Fohrenkam then pulled a handgun and fired three or four shots at Hill, at least one striking him in the head. The then-15-year-old later died at a hospital.
Fohrenkam's legal team filed an appeal following the conviction, saying videotaped statements he made to investigators that were prominently used by prosecutors during the trial were illegally obtained and should have been suppressed. The defense also argued that the court "abused its discretion" by failing to admit the testimony of an expert witness regarding the reliability of eyewitness identifications.
The Court of Appeals ruled in Fohrenkam's favor, reversing his conviction in Hill's death and sending the matter back to district court for a retrial. In the opinion filed Tuesday, justices noted that Minneapolis investigators detained the defendant and obtained statements from him after a Carlton County judge ordered him to be released from detention in a separate matter.
"... Because Fohrenkam made his incriminating statements during this period of continued detention — which the state never justified by presenting evidence explaining the basis for such conduct — Fohrenkam’s statements must be suppressed as the product of an unlawful seizure," Judge Renee L. Worke wrote in the court's opinion.
Worke added that prosecutors failed to prove the challenged evidence was legally obtained.
In a statement Tuesday the Hennepin County Attorney's Office took issue with the reversal and said the next legal steps are being considered.
"The senseless act of gun violence that took the life of Deshaun Hill devastated those who knew and loved him and everyone in the North High School community and beyond," the statement reads. "We are deeply disappointed in this decision and are reviewing our options to ensure justice and accountability in this case."
Hill's parents “are outraged and distraught” at the reversal of Fohrenkam's conviction, according to their attorney William Walker Jr.
Deshaun Hill was a star quarterback for the North H.S. Polars and a guard for the school's basketball team. His family agreed to a $500,000 settlement with the Minneapolis Public Schools after alleging Deshaun would still be alive if North's principal had not agreed to let students out of school to take part in a demonstration down at city hall that day.
KARE 11 is following these new developments in the murder of Deshaun Hill and will have the latest in tonight's broadcasts.
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