Minneapolis man eligible for parole after resentencomg for role as teen in murder of mother and son
A Minneapolis man serving life without parole for his role as a teenager in a grisly double-murder of a mother and son was resentenced Friday, paving the way for his possible release.
Brian Lee Flowers, now 32, and his friend Stafon Thompson were convicted in the 2008 murders of 35-year-old Katricia Daniels and her 10-year-old son, Robert Shepard, in their duplex in Minneapolis' Kingfield neighborhood. The slayings were gruesome: Daniels was stabbed more than 190 times and Shepard was bludgeoned with a television. Flowers, then 16, played a lesser role than Thompson, who was 17, according to defense attorneys and the Minnesota Supreme Court. Thompson was the one covered in blood and cuts on his hands, while Flowers had one drop of blood on his shoes.
His legal team fought a decade for resentencing as a series of state and federal laws changed regarding the prosecution of youth. A parole hearing will be held this summer after Hennepin County Judge William Koch resentenced Flowers to concurrent life sentences instead of consecutive life sentences.
Attorneys Perry Moriearty,a University of Minnesota Law School professor, and Brad Colbert, a professor at Mitchell-Hamline School of Law, released the following statement on behalf of their client following Koch's new sentencing order.
"It is impossible to overstate the gravity of the trauma, grief, and loss caused by the murders of Katricia Daniels and Robert Shephard. Brian takes full responsibility for and deeply regrets his role in the events of that night," the statement said. "Brian was 16 years old at the time of the murders. He is grateful that both the State and the Court have recognized his youth and — as did the Minnesota Supreme Court — his lesser culpability in these events. Brian has now been incarcerated for almost 16 years, and he is not the same person he was in 2008. He knows that there is nothing he can say or do to change what happened, but Brian will spend the rest of his life trying to make amends. He is so deeply sorry."
In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for juveniles without parole are unconstitutional.
Flowers became eligible for resentencing and his case returned to Hennepin County District Court in 2015. Koch resentenced him to concurrent sentences in 2017, making him eligible for parole in 2038. But prosecutors appealed Koch's decision. In 2018, the Minnesota Supreme Court reversed the concurrent sentences, sending the case back to Koch for a hearing to determine whether concurrent or consecutive life sentences should be imposed.
Both parties agreed to concurrent sentences with the possibility of release, despite objections from surviving family members of the victims, according to court records.
Last year, more than a decade after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Minnesota became the 28th state to abolish juvenile life without parole. The change offers most prisoners serving sentences of 15 years or more for juvenile offenses the chance to appear before a review board, which will determine whether they can safely be released.
Flowers has already served over 15 years. He and approximately 40 other people are eligible for a hearing once the panel is up and running this summer. Scheduling of hearing is up to the Minnesota Department of Corrections, said Ramsey County Attorney's office spokesperson Dennis Gerhardstein.
The DOC said the board will be operational beginning in July for Flowers to be seen. Board members will consider reports on community sentiment, views of the victims family and input from a mental health professional.
Ramsey County handled Flowers' case after it was transferred there because of a personal conflict of interest by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, a former public defender who counseled Flowers on his resentencing before she ran for office in 2022.
"She believed in my innocence because she worked on my case," Flowers said of Moriarty in one jail call log.
Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said in a statement that he intends to oppose parole for Flowers until at least 2028 and oppose concurrent sentences for Thompson. Choi said his office was not involved with the "protracted and contentious litigation that this case generated," so it could independently evaluate Flowers' culpability.
"From our perspective, it is significant that, on appeal, the Minnesota Supreme Court determined in 2010 that Mr. Flowers' role in this case was far less than his co-defendant," Choi said. "We came to the same conclusion after reviewing this case for the past ten months..."
