Introduction
The major news out of the Hennepin County Attorney’s office this week was the filing of charges against Gregory Donnell Morgan Jr., 34, a federal ICE agent. Morgan faces two counts of second-degree assault for pulling his weapon, a Glock 19 equipped with a laser light, on two people in another vehicle while driving on the shoulder of the Highway 62 and Interstate 35W interchange on February 5. A nationwide warrant has been issued, meaning Morgan would need to be extradited to Hennepin County to face charges.
What makes this case notable is how prosecutors built it: entirely through State Patrol investigation using traffic camera footage and license plate readers. Morgan has admitted to being the driver. Prosecutors don’t need the federal government to hand over evidence because they already have what they need. That’s a significant contrast to the shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good during Operation Metro Surge, where investigators have been stalled waiting on federal cooperation that has yet to materialize.
Each candidate we’ve interviewed in the Hennepin County Attorney’s race has expressed a commitment to holding the federal agents involved in those shootings accountable. But with Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche showing no signs of being more cooperative — or more willing to investigate internally — than his predecessor, the realistic timeline for charges in those cases could stretch years, if charges ever come at all.
That gap between what justice demands and what the federal government is willing to provide is discussed in my conversation with Matt Pelikan, who joins the podcast fresh from the DFL Senior Caucus debate. Several debate attendees told us they were struck by the depth of the candidate field. Better Minneapolis has interviewed each candidate in the race, and we’ll be reporting on the June 13 Hennepin County convention. Matt sees a through line in his career of holding the powerful to account, and says that drive is a core reason he’s running.
Summary
Matt Pelikan is a lifelong Minnesotan and 14-year litigator who clerked on the Minnesota Supreme Court and has a background in progressive politics, having worked for campaigns including Paul Wellstone, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton. He decided to run for Hennepin County Attorney because he believes the office needs a leader who can thread the needle between criminal justice reform and real public safety — rejecting what he calls “trench warfare” between the pro-reform and tough-on-crime camps. He supported current Attorney Mary Moriarty four years ago but feels her tenure has stumbled, particularly in how she has managed relationships with law enforcement and rolled out policy changes without adequate stakeholder buy-in.
On the major issues, Pelikan takes a pragmatic approach. He believes race should play no role in charging or sentencing decisions, that clearance rates (particularly the roughly 1% rate for car thefts) represent a serious failure, and that youth diversion programs have merit but must be balanced against accountability for repeat or violent offenders. On Operation Metro Surge and the ICE raids, he argued that charges should have been brought more quickly, citing the lesson from the Biden/Garland era that delayed accountability carries a real political and community cost. He also expressed frustration that the constitutional challenges ahead shouldn’t be used as an excuse for inaction. According to Pelikan:
And I personally refuse to believe that with the hundreds of eyewitnesses, hundreds or thousands of hours of footage, there isn’t a single use of force case ready to charge.
And I think that if we have one lesson from the past five years with Joe Biden and Merrick Garland, that there’s a real cost to waiting for accountability.
And this idea that we’re just going to drag things out for years at a time and make sure we do it right, actually is a bad idea.
Pelikan’s overarching message is that progressive cities must be safe, livable places or they risk undermining the broader project of progressive governance. He emphasized that rebuilding trust with the county’s 34 police departments starts with basic respect and communication — something he believes Moriarty failed to do — while still holding officers accountable when they break the law. He frames his candidacy as a common-sense alternative to the pendulum swings that have defined recent criminal justice debates and is seeking the DFL endorsement at the June 13th convention.
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