Hennepin County Attorney’s Office documentary nominated for Regional Emmy

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) documentary “Justice Reimagined,” which tells the story of Marvin Haynes’ wrongful conviction for murder in 2005 on charges from 2004 and his resulting fight for freedom, was nominated for an Upper Midwest Regional Emmy.

Justice Reimagined gives viewers insight into Marvin and his family’s efforts to clear his name and explores what it means for a critical component of the legal system to confront its own past failures.

“What Marvin went through was terrible and it robbed him of two decades of freedom. He trusted the office that put him in prison to tell this story, which is a testament to his strength and capacity for forgiveness,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said. “Our team did an incredible job first in supporting his exoneration and then creating this documentary that is so unique in the field. I’m grateful to them for all of their work.

“No problem can be addressed without acknowledging it exists. The same goes for the role our institutions have played in causing harm. We have a duty to confront it, learn from it, and fix it.”

In late 2023 after a thorough review, the HCAO agreed that Marvin had proven his constitutional rights were violated during his trial in 2005. He was exonerated in December 2023.

In 2024, County Attorney Mary Moriarty directed the creation of a Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU).

The CIU, at the time of its creation, was one of two dedicated public units in the state to review past convictions.

It is now the only dedicated public unit in the state.

“Creating a unit like this was a promise I made when I ran for office. It exists to review cases for conviction integrity but its secondary impact builds trust with the community,” Moriarty said. “We deserve institutions that take hard looks at their own work, admit past failures, and commit to not repeating them.”

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