Minnesota’s Attorney General Keith Ellison has decided to “eliminate” the state’s Conviction Review Unit (CRU) less than six years after he created it. The closure is a devastating blow to around 160 CRU applicants in Minnesota prisons whose cases were pending final investigation into their claims of wrongful conviction.
Designed to “identify, remedy, and prevent wrongful convictions,” the CRU was ultimately stunted by limited funds and officially completed just four investigations after receiving over 1,150 applications. Ellison said he closed the unit “due to budgetary constraints.”
“How can this be a funding problem,” asked Marvina Haynes, who successfully fought to free her innocent brother Marvin from prison after 20 years.
Haynes led a press conference among family of the incarcerated, advocates, and activists at the Minnesota State Capitol on July 14, 2026, calling for the state to fund the unit. “We are here today to demand that legislators move forward, fund the [Conviction Review Unit].”
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