In the largest employment settlement in county history, the Hennepin County Board agreed to pay $1.6 million to former veteran prosecutor Amy Sweasy.
Sweasy alleged in a whistleblower lawsuit that she was forced out of her career by Hennepin County Attorneys Mike Freeman and Mary Moriarty because she objected to the handling of criminal charges against several police officers involved in the murder of George Floyd.
The suit was nearing a jury trial, which would have publicly unspooled the inner workings of the County Attorney’s Office. The settlement agreement was made public Tuesday evening.
During a motion hearing in June, Judge Laurie Miller, who oversaw the case after it was reinstated by the Minnesota Court of Appeals, said, “There is nothing about this trial that isn’t going to be awkward.
“I love jury trials and I think this one will be fascinating,” Miller continued. “But I can’t imagine it’s a trial that anyone who is a party to it can be terribly comfortable with.”
The two sides avoided the trial at the last minute, hammering out an agreement that nearly unraveled after the County Board refused to approve a settlement last month that had been signed by both parties.
Attorney Sonia Miller-Van Oort, who represented Sweasy, said the settlement couldn’t undo the damage done to Sweasy’s career but it was a testament to her willpower.
“I just give a lot of credit to my client,” Miller-Van Oort said. “Amy had the courage and fortitude to take this on against an...
Richard Gregg is no longer fit and proper to be a tax agent, said the TPB; in other news, MHA completed its acquisition of Baker Tilly South-East Europe