Steve Markey
Steve brought joy to everyone who knew him. He was kind, funny, compassionate and a mama’s boy. He was always ready to lend a hand and was generous and thoughtful.
His family will never recover from the loss they suffered when he was murdered.
Steve's Story
On June 11, 2019, Steve was sitting in his car, waiting to meet up with a friend. Two juveniles approached his car holding guns and wearing bandanas across their face. They tried to carjack Steve, but for reasons we may never know, they instead shot him multiple times. He drove a short way away from the scene and his car crashed into a building. He died shortly thereafter. Steve was as generous in death as he was in life; as an organ donor, his sacrifice still helped others.
The juveniles who murdered Steve then changed their clothing and went on to carjack another person that afternoon. The Minneapolis Police apprehended them shortly thereafter while they were on a crime spree. Under the leadership of the prior Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman, the older juvenile, who was 16 at the time, was certified to stand trial as an adult. He received a 21 year prison sentence.
The younger of the two, was days shy of his sixteenth birthday when the crime was committed. His certification case went to the Minnesota State Supreme Court who found he should stand trial and be charged as an adult.
Unfortunately, by the time this ruling was issued, Mary Moriarty was in charge. Although she had been the Chief Public Defender when this crime was committed and would have overseen Braveheart's defense at the time, she did not recuse herself from prosecuting this case. Well, not officially. She instructed the prosecutor to work with the defense team to craft a plea deal that offers the murderer only probation for his crime.
Steve's family has been fighting both for justice for him, but more importantly, for everyone's safety. In interviews and to the family, Mary has repeatedly said it is "unsafe" for this defendant to go to jail and that it is best for him to be out in the community. But a reasonable person would also understand that it's unsafe for the community with a repeat offender carjacker who has escalated to murder being among us.
If you disagree with probation for murder, please sign this petition: https://chng.it/c42ZLLc87c