Law Clinic Helps Secure Release of Myon Burrell after 18 Years in Prison

Professor Perry Moriearty, Kaitlyn Falk, 2L, and Matthew DiTullio ’20 played key roles in gaining freedom for Myon Burrell, who earlier this week was granted a commutation of a life sentence that he received as a teen.

As student attorneys in the Child Advocacy and Juvenile Justice Clinic., Falk and DiTullio worked “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Moriearty, spending hours gathering information, writing and speaking to Burrell, his family and supporters to prepare a petition seeking Burrell’s release for the Minnesota Board of Pardons.

“Matt and Kaitlyn have done fantastic work on behalf of Myon,” Moriearty said of the students’ work on the clinic’s first pardon case. “This is an important and largely untapped area of the criminal legal system in Minnesota, and they played a critical role in developing our arguments, planning the hearing, crafting our legal presentation, and preparing Myon to make his statement to the Board.”

Read more about the Burrell case and the clinic team's work to secure his release in Minnesota Law magazine.