admin
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s office quietly filed a prosecutor‑initiated sentence adjustment asking a judge to cut the life‑without‑parole term for Kemen Taylor II — the man convicted of helping plan the 2011 killing of 13‑year‑old Ray’Jon Gomez. The petition would reduce the sentence to 312 months (about 26 years) and could make Taylor eligible for supervised release as soon as 2030. The move has set off anger from the victim’s family and a political firestorm about public safety and prosecutorial priorities.
What prosecutors asked the court to do
The county’s petition, led by Conviction Integrity Unit lead Andrew Markquart, argues Taylor’s life term is a sentencing “disparity” and a product of a trial penalty — that he got a harsher sentence because he chose to go to trial rather than accept a plea. The filing asks the Fourth Judicial District judge to apply Minn. Stat. § 609.133, the prosecutor‑initiated sentence adjustment statute, and reduce the sentence to 312 months. The county says modern charging practices in Hennepin County would not produce a first‑degree murder charge for Taylor’s role and calls the current sentence a “miscarriage of justice.”
Why victims and the public are outraged
Ray’Jon Gomez’s father called the petition “sickening,” and public reaction has been fierce. Critics point out that Taylor was driving the van, helped plan a shooting that killed a child and left another boy wounded, and rejected a plea that likely would have brought far less time — then received life in prison after a jury trial. For many, this looks less like justice reform and more like leniency for violent offenders while ordinary citizens pay the price in neighborhood safety.
The legal math and the risk
The PISA statute allows prosecutors to ask a court to reduce a sentence if the change won’t increase confinement or supervision and if “substantial and compelling reasons” exist. But PISA wins are rare: only a handful have been granted statewide recently. A related Hennepin petition was already rejected by a judge and is on appeal, and Judge Shereen Askalani has taken Taylor’s petition under advisement. That means the court must weigh public safety, the severity of the crime, sentencing disparity, and the victim family’s input — not exactly a rubber‑stamp exercise.
How this fight will play out
This isn’t just a single case. It’s a test of prosecutorial values and political choices in a county led by an elected prosecutor who ran on reform. If the court grants the reduction, expect appeals, more public anger, and campaign ammunition for challengers who say public safety is being sacrificed. If the court denies it, Moriarty’s office will still have signaled its priorities. Voters and victims’ families will remember which side their DA took — and that memory will matter at the ballot box and on the street.
