Latest felony charge says Myon Burrell had illicit drugs in his SUV, $60,000 in cash in his home

Myon Burrell, who was sentenced to life in prison as a teenager and released 18 years later after independent reporting revealed flaws in the murder case that put him behind bars, was charged Friday with felony drug possession one day after police found illicit drugs in his vehicle and tens of thousands of dollars in his Crystal home.

Burrell, 38, was charged in Hennepin County District Court with fifth-degree drug possession in connection with a county violent offender task force's focus on drug trafficking, gun possession and gang activity investigations.

He remained jailed in Minneapolis in lieu of $75,000 bail, with a court appearance scheduled for Monday. Messages were left Friday with his attorney for comment.

This is the second time in less than nine months that Burrell has been arrested and charged with a felony drug offense.

According to Friday's criminal complaint:

Task force officers were told that Burrell was seen in an SUV with a gun and selling fentanyl and ecstasy. Based on that information and a similar pending drug allegation, officers stopped him Thursday.

Burrell refused to roll down his window when the officers approached the vehicle and "took a long period of time" to open the door.

Officers searched the SUV and in the driver's side door pocket found a pill that tested positive for methamphetamine. "Small chunks of a suspected controlled substance" were found on the passenger's side floor.

A search of Burrell's home turned up a suitcase with $60,000 in cash and a business card bearing his name.

Said Paul Applebaum, Burrell's attorney: "At the risk of being flippant, the facts set forth in the criminal complaint don't pass the giggle test. Who is the source for the claim that Mr. Burrell was engaged in criminal activity? And the money seized at Mr. Burrell's home is the well-documented proceeds from his Go-Fund-Me page. Finally, $100,000 bail for a small potatoes fifth-degree narcotics case is unprecedented in my experience."

Burrell was 16 years old when he was arrested and charged with the fatal shooting of 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards in 2002 in Minneapolis. She was doing homework at her family's kitchen table when a stray bullet fired from across the street struck and killed her.

After two trials, Burrell was convicted and sentenced to life. He spent nearly two decades in prison before reporting by the Associated Press revealed flaws in the police investigation and the prosecutors' case against him. In 2020, Burrell's sentence was commuted to 20 years, and he was released to spend the remaining two years on supervised release.

Last year, he was arrested and charged with fifth-degree drug possession and illegal weapon possession after a traffic stop in Robbinsdale. A Hennepin County district judge ruled last week that the stop and search by police of a vehicle Burrell was driving was valid.

His attorneys had argued there was no probable cause to stop Burrell or search his vehicle, "based on nothing more than an imaginary cloud of smoke that allegedly came from inside the vehicle." They cited a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling that the smell of marijuana alone does not justify a search.

Judge Peter Cahill wrote in an order that the search was valid. He cited moving violations visible in squad car footage and "green leafy debris in plain view" of a police officer as valid reasons to search the vehicle because of a potential offense of driving while intoxicated.

Both of Burrell's drug cases are being prosecuted by the Dakota County Attorney's Office because of a potential conflict of interest stemming from Burrell's role as a paid member of Mary Moriarty's campaign staff in 2022, when she successfully ran for Hennepin County attorney.