Prof. JaneAnne Murray Quoted by Newsweek About Minnesota Judge Overturning Fraud Verdict

Professor JaneAnne Murray was quoted by Newsweek about a Minnesota judge who has found herself at the center of a political firestorm after overturning a guilty verdict in a case involving misappropriated Medicaid funds. In November, Hennepin County Judge Sarah West granted a judgement of acquittal for Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf, overturning a unanimous jury verdict which had convicted him on the charges connected to a company he owned, and which had been involved in the $7.2 million fraud case. In her order, West said the original conviction had relied “substantially on circumstantial evidence.” The case has reemerged as a focal point in the debate over alleged large-scale fraud in Minnesota. Regarding the judge’s decision, Prof. Murray said that it was “highly unusual for a judge to reject a jury’s verdict in any case, much less a white-collar one, where issues of intent will almost always be circumstantial.”