Conviction Review Unit recommends 2009 murder conviction be vacated

All of the eyewitnesses of the shooting described the shooter as "bald" or with a shaved head, according to the CRU. But Barrientos had a full head of hair, both when he was arrested for the shooting 11 days later and the day of the shooting as shown by a security camera at Cub Foods on the East Side of St. Paul. However, photo lineups presented to the eyewitnesses that ID'd him as the shooter contained older pictures of Barrientos when he had a shaved head. The CRU also found that Barrientos was only identified as the shooter after investigators conducted "suggestive and coercive" interviews with juvenile members of a rival gang. 

Barrientos has long held that he was with his girlfriend in her apartment, in a suburb of east St. Paul, at the time of the shooting. The surveillance footage from Cub showed that Barrientos and his girlfriend were at the grocery store 33 minutes before the shooting, which took place in Minneapolis. MPD investigators told the jury that they conducted a test drive and found there was more than enough time for Barrientos to reach south Minneapolis and carry out the shooting. However, a retired MPD officer told the CRU in an expert report that he disagreed with the state's timeline.

At his trial, prosecutors argued that Barrientos' alibi witness was inconsistent and that Barrientos had coached them on what to say. The prosecution played a single out-of-context jail call in court where Barrientos could be heard telling his girlfriend that they would get their stories straight before trial. But the CRU found that in those jail calls, Barrientos, his girlfriend and his family were all actively discussing what had happened that day, often struggling to remember details of what was a very mundane day for them. 

The CRU also concluded that investigators fed a juvenile accomplice witness details of the crime and gave that witness incentive to testify that Barrientos was the shooter. The MPD investigators leaked Barrientos' name to the witness and told the witness that Barrientos was already in jail for the crime. That witness was taken into custody for a probation violation just days after the shooting, according to the CRU. Investigators repeatedly threatened to charge the witness and when the witness finally did name Barrientos as the shooter, he gave several statements that were "wildly inaccurate" and inconsistent with the state's evidence. 

According to the CRU, interview transcripts and police reports show that on the night of the murder, witnesses indicated this accomplice-turned-witness may have been the shooter. But at trial, the state elicited testimony from the lead investigator that no one had indicated the accomplice was the shooter, according to the report from the CRU.

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.

The CRU report argues that because that episode aired less than one month before the trial, it almost certainly interfered with the fair administration of justice and contributed to Barrientos' conviction. 

"The two gang-affiliated witnesses were aware of the episode before trial. One watched footage of Barrientos’s arrest and interrogation before he testified at trial. It is likely he also saw another gang-affiliated witness’s identification of Barrientos that aired on the episode. The show edited the identification footage to make it appear much stronger than it really was. The show also created hours of film that was never examined by the defense," according to the CRU's report. 

The Hennepin County Attorney will now weigh in on whether they agree with the CRU before the judge decides what to do.