Experts question Minnesota judge’s decision to vacate jury verdict in fraud case

Lawmakers and the authorized group are elevating questions after a Minnesota choose took the bizarre step of overturning a unanimous jury verdict in an enormous $7.2 million Medicaid fraud case, a transfer specialists say is never seen in white-collar prosecutions.

The ruling, handed down late final month by Choose Sarah West in Hennepin County, comes as Minnesota is engulfed by a collection of main welfare and human companies fraud scandals which have captured nationwide consideration and shaken confidence within the state’s oversight programs.

West’s choice has raised broader questions on Minnesota’s resolve to prosecute white-collar and welfare fraud at a time when billions in public funds could possibly be weak.

JaneAnne Murray, a regulation professor on the College of Minnesota who research prison justice, stated she was shocked by the choice.

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Choose Sarah West, proper, faces scrutiny after overturning a unanimous jury verdict in a $7.2 million Medicaid fraud case. At left is a view of downtown Minneapolis, December 4, 2025. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Photographs; Hennepin County Courts)

“It’s extremely uncommon for a choose to overturn a jury’s verdict, not to mention a white-collar choose’s verdict, the place questions of intent will nearly all the time be circumstantial,” Murray instructed Fox Information Digital.

Minnesota’s circumstantial proof customary, she famous, is among the many strictest within the nation and requires prosecutors to “exclude any cheap speculation of innocence.”

Authorized specialists say Minnesota’s unusually strict rule provides judges broader authority to overturn convictions if prosecutors can not rule out each cheap different clarification for the suspect’s habits. The Minnesota Supreme Court docket is reviewing the decades-old customary, however Murray stated West utilized the regulation because it stands.

“The choose within the Medicaid fraud case utilized the present regulation,” Murray stated.

Till now, West had maintained a low profile on the bench, with no prior statements that sparked vital controversy. However final month’s choice was derided by Republican Senator Michael Holmstrom of Minnesota, who referred to as her a “true extremist.”

West, a former public defender who was appointed to the bench by Gov. Mark Dayton in 2018, beforehand dealt with juvenile and baby welfare instances in Hennepin County. She additionally held management positions on the Hennepin County Bar Basis, which funds authorized help and group justice packages.

She presided over the prosecution of Abdifatah Yusuf, who was discovered responsible by a jury of six counts of complicity to theft after he and his spouse had been accused of stealing $7.2 million from police. the state’s Medicaid program whereas working a house well being care enterprise, in line with the Minnesota Legal professional Common’s workplace.

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Prosecutors stated the corporate had no actual workplace, operated “out of a mailbox for years” and that Yusuf allegedly used the cash to fund a “lavish way of life” that included procuring at luxurious retailers resembling Coach, Canada Goose, Michael Kors, Nike and Nordstrom.

However West threw out the convictionthrough which he dominated that the state’s case relied closely on circumstantial proof and did not rule out different cheap inferences about Yusuf’s private involvement within the billing scheme.

“There’s a cheap, rational inference that Mr. Yusuf was the proprietor … however that his brother, Mohamed Yusuf, dedicated the fraud … with out Mr. Yusuf’s data or involvement,” West wrote in her ruling.

She stated the dimensions and nature of the fraud had been “of nice significance” however dominated that the state had did not show that Yusuf had knowingly participated in it.

Andy McCarthy, a former assistant U.S. lawyer and Fox Information contributor, stated the ruling went far past what judges are usually allowed to do, underscoring how distinctive the transfer was.

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A bike owner rides by way of downtown Minneapolis throughout a night snowstorm as site visitors strikes alongside N. 1st Avenue. (Nikolas Lanum/Fox Information Digital)

‘It’s extremely uncommon for a choose to overturn a verdict verdict of the jury in a prison caseMcCarthy instructed Fox Information Digital, noting {that a} choose who believes the proof is legally inadequate is predicted to throw out the case earlier than it ever reaches the jury.

McCarthy stated the reported cause for reversing the decision “seems untenable” as a result of circumstantial proof is routinely robust sufficient to help convictions.

“The truth that a case is circumstantial – which means there isn’t a central witness who noticed the crime – is just not a cause to overturn the case,” he stated. “Fairly often, circumstantial instances are a lot stronger than instances that depend on the testimony of witnesses of questionable credibility.”

He added that judges are required to instruct jurors to think about proof as a complete somewhat than individually.

“The choose ought to solely concern a responsible verdict whether it is clearly irrational and opposite to the total weight of the proof,” McCarthy stated.

As a result of West waited till after deliberations to overturn the decision, McCarthy stated the state should have the chance to attraction, a procedural opening that doesn’t exist when a choose presents a case earlier than the jury deliberates.

Minnesota Legal professional Common Keith Ellison has filed an attraction. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Photographs)

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Ben Walfoort, the jury’s chairman, instructed KARE he was “shocked” by West’s choice and stated the jury’s conclusion was “not a troublesome choice in any respect.”

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Minnesota Legal professional Common Keith Ellison has filed an attraction.

The choice has additionally sparked a political battle, with Holmstrom sending a proper letter Choose West she is demanding that she make key items of proof – and your complete file – public, arguing that the general public “must know what is occurring of their courts and of their welfare packages.”

Holmstrom referred to as the ruling “unprecedented” and stated the submitting of paperwork produced in open courtroom goes in opposition to Minnesota’s custom of transparency.

Andrew Mark Miller and Adam Sabes of Fox Information contributed to this report.