Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) was questioned about a murder conviction during her time as a prosecutor in the shooting death of Tyesha Edward on this week’s broadcast of “Fox News Sunday.”
Host Chris Wallace asked, “Your office put a 16-year-old boy in prison for life for the shooting of a young girl. You have campaigned on how this shows you were tough on crime … A year-long Associated Press investigation has raised new questions about whether that man was wrongfully convicted. They found police officer cash to potential witnesses and relied on testimony from jailhouse informants that got reduced sentences. Senator, did you know when you were the prosecutor — did you know about any of that and showed this man’s case be reopened?”
Klobuchar said, “Well, justice must be done, Chris. Just to put it in some context, this was an 11-year-old girl named Tyesha Edwards. She was doing her homework at her kitchen table, and a bullet went through the wall, and she died. And it was a tragic case. It was a big deal within the African-American community. Our focus was on bringing the people to justice and doing justice for her family. So what happened was three people were convicted — if I could just finish —”
Wallace interrupted, “We know it was a bad case. The question is whether this young man did it. This AP investigation indicates that other people were there, said he didn’t do it and that some of the witnesses that were relied on or very questionable. You were the head prosecutor. Did you know, and if you didn’t, shouldn’t you have known?”
Klobuchar said, “There actually were two court trials in this case. One was after I had left the office —”
Wallace pressed, “But he was convicted in the case when you were the prosecutor.”
Klobuchar said, “If I could just answer. My view someone that has worked with the innocence project for years is that if there is no evidence, it must come forward. It must come forward. And it must be considered immediately by the court. The job of a prosecutor is to do justice. And that means to me convict the guilty, protect the innocent. Do your job without fear of —”
Wallace said, “Senator, you’re not answering my question. Did you know about the fact that there was this questionable evidence that the police were coming up with?”
Klobuchar said, “I didn’t know about this new evidence. No, I didn’t know about this new evidence until I saw this report. I couldn’t have. I haven’t been in the office for 12 years.”
Wallace said, “But I was wondering when you were in the office, did you know about this questionable evidence? The reason I’m asking you is, as I’m sure you well know now, there are a number of African-American groups in Minnesota who are calling for you to suspend your campaign until this is cleared up.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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