MINNEAPOLIS — In the alley right behind the Roosevelt High School football field in Minneapolis, back in October 2008, 18-year-old Jesse Mickelson was killed in a drive-by shooting.
"He's just innocent, it just makes me sick to my stomach," his sister, Tina Rosebear, told KARE 11 News at that time.
Mickelson was a high school senior and an aspiring musician who had plans to study music production after graduating from Roosevelt High.
"We heard him through his music. He was a whole other person. He went from shy, quiet Jesse, who never said anything, to 'Wow, where did this come from?'" Rosebear said.
On that October night, Mickelson was at a family member's birthday party, playing football out back, when witnesses say a white car drove up and a passenger started firing at another group, hitting Jesse in the process.
The case, which was featured on the A&E show "The First 48" involved several people now in big positions. Detective Chris Gaiters is now an assistant chief with the Minneapolis Police Department. And the Assistant Hennepin County Attorney on the case, Hillary Caligiuri, is now a judge.
Caligiuri successfully prosecuted and convicted Edgar Barrientos-Quintana of first-degree murder. He's now serving life in prison. But according to court filings, the Attorney General Office's Conviction Review Unit is fully reviewing the case, and sources with knowledge of it have told KARE 11 News that a decision and recommendation could be coming very soon.
The First 48 showed MPD identifying the suspect from a witness who knew him by his gang nickname "Smokey." Other witnesses identified Barrientos-Quintana in photo lineups.
MPD then arrested Barrientos-Quintana and questioned him. On The First 48, the detectives grow even more confident when his alibi doesn't check out.
"It's not looking so good for Smokey. She says he was there the whole time except for a four-hour span that coincides with the time of the murder. She also believes he was in Minneapolis at that time," Sgt. Robert Dale told the cable TV program.
Now, 15 years after Barrientos-Quintana was convicted, his attorneys are hoping questions they have raised about memory and eyewitness testimony will help the Conviction Review Unit conclude Barrientos-Quintana is not guilty.
According to a report made by a defense expert on eyewitness identification, "the shooter was uniformly described by witnesses as a Hispanic man with a bald/shaved head"
But Barrientos-Quintana had a full head of hair when he was arrested 11 days after the shooting.
"The people that identified him and gave his name were not strangers. They knew him," said Mickelson's cousin Paula Saxton.
Saxton said Jesse's family still firmly believes Barrientos-Quintana is guilty.
"There's no evidence of innocence that has been presented so we're hoping that they are going to just let it be. let him do his time," Paula Saxton said.
If the Conviction Review Unit makes a recommendation favorable to the defendant, Edgar Barrientos-Quintana, the Hennepin County Attorney gets a chance to weigh in whether they agree or not before the judge decides what to do.