The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office over a new policy that directs prosecutors to consider race when making plea deals.
An internal document, titled “Negotiations Policy for Cases Involving Adult Defendants,” instructs prosecutors to factor race and age into plea negotiations, as first reported by KARE 11. The new policy took effect last week.
On Saturday, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Harmeet Dhillon announced that her office is now investigating whether the Hennepin County attorney is “engaged in a pattern or practice of depriving persons of rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
This week we @TheJusticeDept @CivilRights opened a racial discrimination pattern and practice investigation into Hennepin County, Minnesota’s recently announced policy of taking race into consideration in plea offers. More to come. pic.twitter.com/VLn1998Obl
— AAGHarmeetDhillon (@AAGDhillon) May 4, 2025
“Our investigation is based on information that the HCAO recently adopted a discriminatory Negotiations Policy for Cases Involving Adult Defendants directing prosecutors to consider racial identity when formulating plea offers, stating that ‘racial identity … should be part of the overall analysis,’ and that prosecutors, ‘should be identifying and addressing racial disparities at decision points, as appropriate,’” Dhillon said in a letter to Moriarty.
“Our investigation, however, will include a comprehensive review of all relevant HCAO policies and practices that may involve the illegal consideration of race in prosecutorial decision-making,” the letter continues.
The letter notes that the DOJ has not reached any conclusions about the subject matter of the investigation and will consider all relevant information.
A spokesperson for Moriarty previously defended the policy in a statement to KARE 11, saying “a defendant’s race matters because we know unaddressed unconscious biases lead to racial disparities, which is an unacceptable outcome.”
Moriarty has been no stranger to controversy since taking office in January 2023. Most recently, she faced widespread criticism when she declined to charge a state employee who was caught on video vandalizing Teslas in Minneapolis.
Anthony Gockowski
Anthony Gockowski is Editor-in-Chief of Alpha News. He previously worked as an editor for The Minnesota Sun and Campus Reform, and wrote for the Daily Caller.
