Opinion | Hennepin County fails to use the state’s new carjacking statute

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In 2023, following an explosion of carjackings in Minnesota, our Legislature created statute 609.247 to focus on the specific act of carjacking rather than prosecuting carjackings as a traditional robbery.

Additionally, the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission (MSGC) reviewed the new law and elected to respond to the scourge of carjacking by enhancing the severity level of the crime above that of a traditional robbery.

These enhancements elevated the penalty for armed and unarmed carjacking one severity level above similar robberies. This meant that the intended sentence for a first-time offender who was convicted of armed carjacking was a presumptive commitment to prison for 86 months. This was a noteworthy victory for those valuing a consequential criminal justice system.

The new law and enhanced penalties offered county attorneys and the courts a significant tool to incapacitate violent offenders.

For that to occur, however, justice officials needed to make use of the new statute and enhanced penalty, not avoid them. Unfortunately, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office under Mary Moriarty and the Hennepin County District Court have failed to utilize the statute or impose an enhanced penalty as intended. This failure has exacerbated public safety concerns not only in Hennepin County, but in the entire state.

The data is deeply troubling. It shows that virtually no one is being prosecuted, convicted or sentenced in Hennepin County consistent with the new carjacking statute and enhanced penalties.

In the case of Hennepin County, which is shockingly home to 81% of the state’s entire number of carjackings, 87% of the state’s armed carjackings and 73% of the state’s carjackings resulting in injury, the county attorney and courts have consistently failed to make proper use of the powerful new carjacking statute and enhanced penalties.

Social justice advocates will point out that carjacking incidents have been falling in Minnesota since their high point in 2021 and argue that enhanced penalties were not needed. This belies the fact that a combination of enhanced law enforcement efforts and a widely publicized federal crackdown on carjacking in Minnesota were both implemented in 2022. Those enhanced law enforcement and prosecutorial efforts have undoubtedly reduced the number of carjacking incidents in Minnesota. Certainly more than the social justice efforts led by a reluctance to use the state’s new carjacking statute have.

During the first full year the new carjacking statute was on the books, there were 349 carjacking incidents reported in Hennepin County. Of those, 105 were submitted to the HCAO for charging consideration.

The HCAO charged 14 people in adult court for crimes involving carjacking elements — just seven were charged using the new carjacking statute. Ultimately, just one of those defendants was convicted in Hennepin County District Court of carjacking (most were allowed to plead guilty to a lesser offense, some were dismissed, and two were subsequently prosecuted federally). The one Hennepin County convicted carjacker received a 90-day sentence to the Hennepin County workhouse and a guarantee to reduce his conviction to a misdemeanor upon successful completion of probation.

Incapacitating violent carjacking offenders would protect Minnesota communities on the front end by preventing violent offenders from continuing their crime sprees. Incapacitation would then offer our correctional entities a realistic opportunity to fulfill the other rationales for punishment — rehabilitation, deterrence and retribution.

Minnesotans deserve better, especially related to the failure to properly prosecute and incapacitate violent carjackers in Hennepin County.