Minnesota Black Lives Matter, Reinvestigation Work Group and the family of Marcus Golden are calling on Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to provide updates on the Golden and Hardel Sherrell cases.
At the St. Paul Public Library in Highland Park, families of police violence victims and activists called for Ellison to move up the cases of Golden and Sherrell.
The case was initially referred to the Washington County Attorney, who then referred it to Ellison’s office in 2023.
St. Paul police shot 24-year-old Golden in the back of the head, killing him on Jan. 14, 2015, as officers alleged Golden was driving toward officers at high speeds, although the Golden family disputes that claim.
The St. Paul Police Department claimed Golden fired a gun, but an autopsy failed to find any gunpowder or any other evidence that Golden used a weapon.
A grand jury chose not to convict the officers involved in Golden’s shooting. While the officers were not charged, the City of St. Paul reached a $1.3 million settlement with the Golden family in 2023, according to reporting by the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.
27-year-old Sherrell died of Guillain-Barré syndrome, where the body’s immune system attacks the nerves, in Beltrami County Jail in Aug. 2018 after prison staff ignored Sherrell’s symptoms, reported Fox 9 News.
The Sherrell family reached a settlement of about $2 million with Beltrami County and the MEnD Correctional Care in 2023, according to reporting by Fox 9 news.
Emma Pederson, a volunteer investigator for Reinvestigation, said Ellison declined to comment on the cases when she spoke to him at the Minnesota Justice Research Center on Tuesday.
At the press conference, Monique Cullars-Doty, the aunt of Golden, said she was frustrated by Ellison’s lack of action.
“As a family member, I shouldn’t have to have a press conference to address you not doing your job,” Cullars-Doty said. “If you believe Black lives matter, if you believe your Black life matters, you should be addressing this.”
Ellison declined to comment on an ongoing investigation.
The Golden family is calling for Ellison to investigate the case. At the press conference, Cullars-Doty said she wants Ellison to pursue criminal charges against the police officers and an investigation into the St. Paul Police Department conducted during the case.
At the press conference, Reinvestigation Work Group members, who investigate police killings, claimed that there were discrepancies in the case and said there was no evidence of threatening text messages from Golden that prompted police to pursue him before his death.
For the Sherrell case, the Black Lives Matter Co-Founder and uncle of Sherrell Trahern Crews said he wants Ellison to look at the case to pursue criminal charges.
“We’ve all seen the video, it’s been on TV, it’s been on KARE 11, it’s been on national news, it’s been in the newspaper but there still hasn’t been any charges,” Crews said. “We know like in this case there’s been a settlement but there hasn’t been the charges that need to come forth.”
Johnathon McClellan, the president of the Minnesota Justice for Coalition, said this press conference is a way to hold elected officials’ feet to the fire.
“In one of many conversations with the governor, he said to keep the officials’ feet to the fire and that’s what we intend to do,” McClellan said.
