{"id":844781,"date":"2025-04-30T20:12:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T01:12:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/a-wholly-inaccurate-picture-reality-cop-show-the-first-48-and-the-wrongly-convicted-man\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T20:12:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T01:12:58","slug":"a-wholly-inaccurate-picture-reality-cop-show-the-first-48-and-the-wrongly-convicted-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/a-wholly-inaccurate-picture-reality-cop-show-the-first-48-and-the-wrongly-convicted-man\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cA Wholly Inaccurate Picture\u201d: Reality Cop Show \u201cThe First 48\u201d and the Wrongly Convicted Man"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-pp-location=\"article body\">\n<div data-pp-location=\"top-note\">\n<p>ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/newsletters\/dispatches?source=www.propublica.org&#038;placement=top-note&#038;region=local\">Sign up for Dispatches<\/a>, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Reporting Highlights<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span>A First for \u201cThe First 48\u201d: <\/span> The exoneration of Edgar Barrientos-Quintana may be the first in the country related directly to the involvement of the television show.<\/li>\n<li><span>Partnerships Soured: <\/span> Multiple cities ended their relationships with \u201cThe First 48\u201d after problems, including Minneapolis; Miami; Detroit; Mobile, Alabama; and Memphis, Tennessee.<\/li>\n<li><span>Criticism From All Sides: <\/span> Complaints about the show\u2019s impact on criminal prosecutions have come from prosecutors and defense lawyers, as well as judges and city officials.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n        These highlights were written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. <span id=\"survey-placeholder\"><\/span>\n    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"2\" data-pp-blocktype=\"embed\"><figcaption>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"3.0\">Eleven days after 18-year-old Jesse Mickelson was gunned down in a South Minneapolis alley, homicide detectives returned to the home where Mickelson had been playing football moments before his murder. The detectives had good news to share, so Mickelson\u2019s family and friends squeezed around the dining room table to hear it.<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"5\" data-pp-blocktype=\"embed\">\n<div>\n<p>\n      \u201cWe have made an arrest,\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n    <video id=\"made-arrest\" preload=\"auto\" playsinline poster=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/first48_video_weve-made-an-arrest.jpg\"><source src=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/video\/first48_video_weve-made-an-arrest_short.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\">Your browser does not support the video tag.<br \/>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/video\/first48_video_weve-made-an-arrest_short.mp4\">Download video<\/a><\/video><figcaption>\n      <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Via \u201cThe First 48\u201d<br \/>\n      <\/span><br \/>\n    <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"6.0\">\u201cYes,\u201d someone said. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"7.0\">Dale and his partner, Sgt. Christopher Gaiters, told the family they had arrested a suspect, a man witnesses said they saw firing from the back seat of a white Dodge Intrepid as it rolled down the alley. His name was Edgar Barrientos-Quintana, and the police had the 25-year-old in custody.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"8.0\">As the family members hugged one another and cried, Mickelson\u2019s father stuck his hand out to Gaiters, then wrapped the detective in a hug. <\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"8.1\">\u201cThanks a lot, man,\u201d he said quietly. \u201cThanks a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"10.0\">The scene in the grieving family\u2019s dining room was captured in October 2008 by cameras for the A&#038;E true crime reality television series \u201cThe First 48.\u201d The premise of the show, as explained by a deep-voiced narrator, is that homicide detectives\u2019 \u201cchance of solving a murder is cut in half if they don\u2019t get a lead within the first 48 hours.\u201d In each episode of the program, which debuted in 2004 and is currently in its 27th season, camera crews follow along with police as they work to beat a clock that counts down in the corner of the screen.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"11.0\">The episode, titled \u201cDrive-By,\u201d tracked the detectives from the moment Mickelson\u2019s family dialed 911 to the arrest of Barrientos-Quintana. Under moody, dark music punctuated by dramatic sound effects, Dale and Gaiters determined that Mickelson, a lanky high school senior with icy blue eyes, was \u201ca pretty good kid\u201d and the unintentional victim of a gang-related drive-by shooting. Based on interviews with witnesses, their faces blurred and voices distorted for TV, the detectives pieced together that \u201cSmokey,\u201d a nickname for Barrientos-Quintana recorded in a police database, was the shooter.<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"13\" data-pp-blocktype=\"embed\">\n<div>\n<p>\n      \u201cLooks like we have our guy,\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p>\n    <video id=\"our-guy\" preload=\"auto\" playsinline poster=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/first48_video_our-guy.jpg\"><source src=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/video\/first48_video_our-guy_short.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\">Your browser does not support the video tag.<br \/>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/video\/first48_video_our-guy_short.mp4\">Download video<\/a><\/video><figcaption>\n      <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Via \u201cThe First 48\u201d<br \/>\n      <\/span><br \/>\n    <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"14.0\">The episode aired in April 2009, about a month before Barrientos-Quintana went to trial.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"15.0\">In court, the case against Barrientos-Quintana that Hennepin County prosecutors presented built on the clean, conclusive narrative of the episode. Witnesses from rival gang cliques testified they either were in the car with Barrientos-Quintana when the crime occurred or saw him shooting at them.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"16.0\">The prosecutors also told jurors that Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s alibi, that he\u2019d been with his girlfriend at a grocery store across town before the murder, still allowed him time to get to the crime scene.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"18.0\">After a jury found Barrientos-Quintana guilty, reruns of the episode ended with a title card that read, \u201cEdgar \u2018Smokey\u2019 Barrientos was subsequently convicted of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to life without parole.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"19.0\">Sixteen years later, that tidy narrative unraveled. Last year, the Minnesota attorney general\u2019s Conviction Review Unit released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ag.state.mn.us\/Office\/CRU\/Reports\/Barrientos-Quintana_Edgar.pdf\">a 180-page report<\/a> concluding that Barrientos-Quintana&#8217;s conviction \u201clacks integrity\u201d and ought to be vacated. In November, Barrientos-Quintana \u2014 who always maintained his innocence and was never linked to the crime by any physical evidence \u2014 walked out of prison.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"20.0\">At a press conference led by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who made the decision to dismiss the charges, Barrientos-Quintana shifted back and forth on his feet and smiled nervously, the grey in his beard a notable difference from his appearance in \u201cThe First 48\u201d episode.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"21.0\">\u201cHappy to be out here,\u201d was all that he offered to the reporters asking how he felt. \u201cIt\u2019s the best week. And more to come.\u201d Barrientos-Quintana, through his lawyers, declined an interview request.<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"22\" data-pp-blocktype=\"image\">\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class alt width=\"1600\" height=\"1067\" loading=\"lazy\" js-autosizes src=\"https:\/\/img.assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/18_AmyAnderson_0I5A4732_preview.jpg?crop=focalpoint&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=webp&#038;fp-x=0.5&#038;fp-y=0.5&#038;h=534&#038;q=75&#038;w=800&#038;s=0d1a1c54b9a9ed28780e52bf2b77ca29\" ><figcaption>\n        <span>Edgar Barrientos-Quintana served nearly 16 years in prison for a murder in Minneapolis before he was exonerated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>        <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Amy Anderson Photography\/Courtesy of the Great North Innocence Project<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"23.0\">The Conviction Review Unit report that ultimately convinced both Moriarty\u2019s office and a judge that Barrientos-Quintana should be freed outlined dozens of issues with the investigation and trial, many of them hallmarks of wrongful convictions. Long, coercive interrogations. Improper use of lineup photos.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"24.0\">Both the report and the judge\u2019s order also highlighted one unique issue: the role of \u201cThe First 48.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"25.0\">\u201cIn the episode, events happened out of order, and Sgts. Dale and Gaiters staged scenes for the producers that were not a part of the investigation,\u201d wrote Judge John R. McBride. \u201cWhat is more, the episode failed to include other, actual portions of the investigation, painting a wholly inaccurate picture of how the MPD investigation unfolded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"26.0\">Conviction Review Unit attorneys concluded that police and prosecutors became locked into a narrative they did not deviate from. In essence, the unit alleged, instead of the case shaping the show, the show shaped the case.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"27.0\">\u201cThey said, \u2018We got the right guy. We got him,\u2019 before they knew or really looked into the existence of Edgar\u2019s alibi,\u201d said Anna McGinn, an attorney for the Great North Innocence Project who represented Barrientos-Quintana. \u201cIt\u2019s on TV. I mean, that\u2019s problematic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"28.0\">Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s exoneration may be the first in the country related to the \u201cThe First 48,\u201d but it is not the first time the program has found itself embroiled in controversy, though not necessarily because of its conduct. In 2010, for instance, \u201cThe First 48\u201d was filming when a Detroit police SWAT-style team raided an apartment and an officer shot and killed 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones. In Miami, a man featured on the show as the prime suspect in a 2009 double murder sat in jail for 19 months before the police finally determined he wasn\u2019t responsible. In both cases, subsequent lawsuits accused the police of shoddy investigations and hasty decision-making in the service of creating good TV. Both cases ended in settlements \u2014 $8.25 million in Detroit \u2014 paid out by the cities, not \u201cThe First 48.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"29.0\">\u201cNo one cared that my boy was killed, and the cops just rushed it for a damn show,\u201d the father of one of the double murder victims <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miaminewtimes.com\/news\/the-first-48-makes-millions-off-imprisoning-innocents-6394571\">told the Miami New Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"30.0\">Prosecutors, judges, defense attorneys and city officials across the country have bemoaned their police departments\u2019 decision to allow the show into active crime scenes to film officers investigating sensitive homicide cases. It\u2019s even been raised as an issue by an attorney who represents a death row inmate in Tennessee.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"31.0\">\u201cI wish that the city would never contract with \u2018The First 48,\u2019\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nola.com\/news\/crime_police\/judge-ends-the-first-48-debate-in-gentilly-triple-homicide-case\/article_e21e02eb-b7a9-5985-b0ed-14902347b263.html\">remarked one New Orleans judge<\/a> in 2015 after the show <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nola.com\/news\/crime_police\/gentilly-triple-homicide-lawyers-the-first-48-producers-hid-footage\/article_18b322c1-c5d2-5e0a-85cf-36108ad7bdca.html\">was accused<\/a> by defense lawyers of lying about deleting raw footage of a triple murder investigation. \u201cI hope in the future they would think through that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"32.0\">\u201cThe First 48,\u201d like similar programs such as \u201cCops\u201d and \u201cLive PD,\u201d is sometimes derided as \u201ccopaganda,\u201d pro-law-enforcement entertainment that poses as documentary. But it\u2019s popular enough that A&#038;E frequently programs hours of reruns back to back. Fans discuss favorite episodes on a busy, dedicated Reddit channel.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"33.0\">While other police reality shows have also received negative attention and have been canceled  after high-profile incidents, \u201cThe First 48\u201d has largely avoided broader public scrutiny. Over the past two decades, the cities of Memphis, Tennessee; New Orleans; Detroit; and Miami have ended their relationships with \u201cThe First 48\u201d after the show\u2019s presence snarled prosecutions or otherwise created problems.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"34.0\">Those severed partnerships seem to have done little to slow production of the show. Kirkstall Road Enterprises, the subsidiary of ITV that produces the show, simply moved on; the most recently released episodes were filmed in Tulsa, Oklahoma; Gwinnett County, Georgia; and Mobile, Alabama, although Mobile did not renew its contract in 2023 after complaints from defense attorneys.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"35.0\">Neither ITV nor ITV America responded to numerous requests for comment or to a detailed list of questions. A spokesperson for A&#038;E Network declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"36.0\">Moriarty was Minnesota\u2019s chief public defender the last time she tangled with \u201cThe First 48\u201d on behalf of clients in 2016, and she is still dealing with fallout from the show in her first term as Hennepin County attorney.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"37.0\">\u201cThey are allowed to continue to do probably a great deal of damage without being discovered, without really having any consequences,\u201d said Moriarty. \u201cHopefully, places where this is happening, the city, city council, mayor, whatever, could put a stop to it, and cities where it isn\u2019t happening, they could be prepared when \u2018First 48\u2019 comes to their town.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"38\" data-pp-blocktype=\"image\">\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class alt width=\"3000\" height=\"2000\" loading=\"lazy\" js-autosizes src=\"https:\/\/img.assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/20250206-Maney-First48-054_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?crop=focalpoint&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=webp&#038;fp-x=0.5&#038;fp-y=0.5&#038;h=533&#038;q=75&#038;w=800&#038;s=750cd1bcf9efa5a4575b48cc065ece27\" ><figcaption>\n        <span>Photos of Jesse Mickelson are on display in his sister\u2019s apartment.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>        <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Sarahbeth Maney\/Propublica<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 data-pp-id=\"39\" data-pp-blocktype=\"heading\" id=\"a-false-narrative\">\n    \u201cA False Narrative\u201d<br \/>\n<\/h3>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"40.0\">When Assistant Attorney General Carrie Sperling, the director of the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit, began her reinvestigation of the Barrientos-Quintana conviction, one of the first things she did was watch the episode of \u201cThe First 48\u201d that featured his case. She was immediately alarmed.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"41.0\">\u201cIt\u2019s a false narrative,\u201d she said. \u201cInvestigators are just misrepresenting details about the case on TV.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"42.0\">Barrientos-Quintana began reaching out for help with his conviction almost as soon as he got to prison. In 2011, he became one of a handful of inmates whose cases were accepted for review by the Great North Innocence Project, a nonprofit that investigates possible wrongful convictions in Minnesota and the Dakotas.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"43.0\">But his appeals went nowhere and, according to McGinn, the case was essentially dormant until the Minnesota attorney general\u2019s office launched its Conviction Review Unit in 2021. Because the unit operates within a state law enforcement agency, its investigators had access to material Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s lawyers said they never saw.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"44.0\">Sperling wanted to understand why detectives zeroed in on Barrientos-Quintana and left other potential suspects to the side. In Gaiters and Dale\u2019s theory of the crime, Barrientos-Quintana was a member of the Sure\u00f1os 13 gang and had recently gotten into a fight with a member of a rival clique called South Side Raza. The leader of that clique, nicknamed Puppet, lived across the alley from Mickelson\u2019s house and may also have been seeing the same girl as Barrientos-Quintana.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"45.0\">Early on in the investigation, a student at Mickelson\u2019s high school told police she\u2019d heard that the shooter was named \u201ceither Smokey or Sharky.\u201d Dale and Gaiters identified a 16-year-old boy known as Sharky, but for reasons the Conviction Review Unit report said are \u201cnot clear,\u201d detectives decided that Sharky was an accomplice, while Barrientos-Quintana, or Smokey, was the shooter.<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"46\" data-pp-blocktype=\"image\">\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class alt width=\"2000\" height=\"3000\" loading=\"lazy\" js-autosizes src=\"https:\/\/img.assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/20250205-Maney-First48-007_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?crop=focalpoint&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=webp&#038;fp-x=0.5&#038;fp-y=0.5&#038;h=1200&#038;q=75&#038;w=800&#038;s=a72513d7cdb41bb22d003e6656d696c0\" ><figcaption>\n        <span>Assistant Attorney General Carrie Sperling, the director of the Minnesota Conviction Review Unit, reinvestigated the Barrientos-Quintana conviction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>        <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Sarahbeth Maney\/Propublica<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"47.0\">In the course of listening to hours of Gaiters and Dale\u2019s original interviews with witnesses, Sperling was struck by how differently \u201cThe First 48\u201d portrayed those conversations. According to the Conviction Review Unit report, about a half-dozen witnesses, some of them Mickelson\u2019s friends and family and some from Puppet\u2019s side of the alley, all agreed on one thing: The shooter was bald, \u201cshiny bald\u201d even. That fact is never mentioned in the episode, and footage of Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s arrest and interrogation shows him with a full head of black hair.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"48.0\">\u201cThey show the video footage of Edgar being arrested at work, and he\u2019s clearly not bald,\u201d said McGinn. \u201cThat is an intentional omission, I believe, and that\u2019s very misleading.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"49.0\">At the time Mickelson was shot and killed, Barrientos-Quintana had an arrest record and had convictions for driving offenses and misdemeanor property damage, according to court records. He\u2019d been affiliated with the Sure\u00f1os 13 gang, but he told detectives he\u2019d left that life behind and was working at a computer warehouse.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"50.0\">More importantly, perhaps, he told police he was with his girlfriend in a suburb on the other side of town the day of the shooting. In \u201cThe First 48,\u201d Dale makes a phone call to a \u201cfamily friend\u201d of Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s, a conversation that Dale implies has blown the alibi apart, leaving a four-hour window when Barrientos-Quintana could have committed the murder.<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"52\" data-pp-blocktype=\"embed\">\n<div>\n<p>\n    <video id=\"not-looking-good\" preload=\"auto\" playsinline poster=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/first48_video_not-looking-good.jpg\"><source src=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/video\/first48_video_not-looking-good.mp4\" type=\"video\/mp4\">Your browser does not support the video tag.<br \/>\n      <a href=\"https:\/\/assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/video\/first48_video_not-looking-good.mp44\">Download video<\/a><\/video><figcaption>\n      <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Via \u201cThe First 48\u201d<br \/>\n      <\/span><br \/>\n    <\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;It\u2019s not looking so good for Smokey,&#8221;<\/p><figcaption>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"53.0\">In reality, the 15-year-old girl Barrientos-Quintana was with on the day of the shooting was being questioned at the same time in a separate room. She told detectives repeatedly that Barrientos-Quintana had been with her the whole day at her home. When investigators suggested the pair couldn\u2019t have spent the entire day indoors, the girl offered that at one point they\u2019d left to go to the grocery store but had come straight back.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"54.0\">Toward the end of the episode, a distraught Barrientos-Quintana tells Dale, \u201cRight now, I just want to get myself a lawyer.\u201d In the episode, the interrogation stops, as if Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s constitutional right to an attorney was immediately honored. But according to the Conviction Review Unit report, Gaiters and Dale ignored his requests for a lawyer and, at one point, a third officer told Barrientos-Quintana that the detectives would not listen to him if he kept asking for representation.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"55.0\">\u201cThe First 48\u201d cameras were long gone when, months later, Gaiters and Dale obtained security camera footage of Barrientos-Quintana and the girl at the grocery store. The footage shows the pair together, smiling and walking toward the store\u2019s exit, just before 6:20 p.m. The shooting took place roughly 33 minutes later and about 14 miles away, creating a narrow window of time for Barrientos-Quintana to part ways with the girl, change clothes and meet up with his supposed accomplices before witnesses first spotted the Dodge Intrepid behind the Mickelson home.<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"56\" data-pp-blocktype=\"image\">\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class alt width=\"1746\" height=\"1204\" loading=\"lazy\" js-autosizes src=\"https:\/\/img.assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/Fig-14-1_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?crop=focalpoint&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=webp&#038;fp-x=0.5&#038;fp-y=0.5&#038;h=552&#038;q=75&#038;w=800&#038;s=b4a55d948bdb1378f2564c447f652c88\" ><figcaption>\n        <span>Security video from a grocery store showed Barrientos-Quintana shortly before Jesse Mickelson was shot and killed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>        <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Obtained from the Great North Innocence Project by ProPublica<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"57.0\">\u201cThe First 48\u201d episode about the case aired about two months after this new piece of evidence came to light. There is no mention of it in the program.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"58.0\">The security footage was far from prosecutors\u2019 only challenge heading into the May 2009 trial. In preparation, according to the Conviction Review Unit report, prosecutors Susan Crumb and Hilary Caligiuri learned that Dale had been \u201cplayacting for a reality TV crew\u201d and the defense might be able to use that revelation to undermine the testimony of Dale or Gaiters.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"59.0\">In addition, prosecutors told their supervisors in a memo that the show had edited footage of the investigation out of chronological order, generating an inaccurate depiction of what happened. As a result, only Gaiters testified.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"60.0\">Because the episode aired before trial and a key witness watched it, Crumb and Caligiuri scuttled plans to ask him to identify Barrientos-Quintana in court. All of this was revealed in the memo Caligiuri and Crumb wrote to their supervisors immediately following the trial to express their concerns about the city working with \u201cThe First 48,\u201d the contents of which were never shared with Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s defense attorneys.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"61.0\">Caligiuri, who is now a judge, is precluded from speaking to the press by the Minnesota Code of Judicial Conduct, according to a court spokesperson. Crumb, in an email response to questions from ProPublica, took issue with many of the characterizations in the Conviction Review Unit report but agreed that \u201cThe First 48\u201d had been a problem.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"62.0\">She said the producers\u2019 scripting for Dale was \u201cinnocuous\u201d but could have caused problems for prosecutors in cross-examination. And she said a young witness became so afraid after seeing clips of the episode that he ran away from home and, even after police arrested him, refused to testify for prosecutors.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"63.0\">\u201cContrary to the CRU\u2019s assertion, Barrientos-Quintana was not wrongfully convicted, as the Minnesota Supreme Court confirmed and as an unbiased review of the file and trial record would confirm,\u201d Crumb, who is retired, said in the email.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"64.0\">\u201cThe filming of the First 48 created problems the defense used to try to sow doubt regarding the Defendant\u2019s guilt,\u201d she added. \u201cIf there was any \u2018hindrance to the administration of justice\u2019 in this case, it was only to the detriment of the prosecution, not the defense.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"65.0\">At trial, Gaiters testified that when he re-created the route from the grocery store to the crime scene, it took 28 minutes, enough time for Barrientos-Quintana to commit the shooting with just minutes to spare. But that did not account for how the girl he was with got home, nor did it square with the claim by Sharky, who was by now one of the prosecution\u2019s chief witnesses, that after he met up with Barrientos-Quintana in a park near Mickelson\u2019s home, they \u201ccruised around,\u201d adding several minutes to the timeline. A private investigator hired by the defense testified that his re-creation of the route took him 33 minutes.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"66.0\">The man identified as Sharky could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"67.0\">Dale, who retired from the Minneapolis Police Department in 2023, declined to comment. Gaiters rose through the ranks of the department to become assistant chief of community trust. Through a department spokesperson, Gaiters declined to comment.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"68.0\">The Police Department did not respond to a detailed list of questions other than to confirm that it ended its relationship with \u201cThe First 48\u201d in 2016. But ahead of Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s release, Chief Brian O\u2019Hara said publicly he supported Dale and Gaiters\u2019 original investigation and was \u201cconcerned that a convicted killer will be set free based only upon a reinterpretation of old evidence rather than the existence of any new facts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"69.0\">The jury struggled to come to a verdict, at one point close to deadlocking with three members unwilling to convict, according to the Conviction Review Unit report. But after being allowed to review Sharky\u2019s testimony, they found Barrientos-Quintana guilty. He was sentenced to life without parole.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"70.0\">In his order vacating the conviction, McBride wrote that the \u201ccolossal failures\u201d and \u201cineptitude\u201d of Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s original lawyers were \u2014\u00a0on their own \u2014 grounds for a new trial. The Conviction Review Unit report also criticized his lawyers, saying they repeatedly failed to challenge many aspects of the prosecution\u2019s case as well as Gaiters\u2019 testimony.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"71.0\">Messages left for Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s four pretrial and trial attorneys were not returned. According to the Conviction Review Unit report, in the years following the trial, one of the lawyers was disbarred, a second had his law license suspended for unethical behavior and a third, who dropped out of the case just before trial, was convicted of swindling a client. The fourth lawyer, the report said, has a clean disciplinary record but had passed the Minnesota bar just a month before trial.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"72.0\">According to McGinn, being featured on \u201cThe First 48\u201d gave Barrientos-Quintana an added \u2014 and unwelcome \u2014 notoriety in prison. She said that although he is now free, he is distraught that, until recently, \u201cThe First 48\u201d episode was still available in reruns on A&#038;E and other channels, and was available for streaming.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"73.0\">\u201cThere\u2019s been no statement that says, \u2018Hey, we retract this,\u2019 or \u2018This is an inaccurate depiction of what actually happened that night that Jesse was killed,\u2019\u201d said McGinn.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"73.1\">A&#038;E said last week that the episode is not currently available.<\/p>\n<h3 data-pp-id=\"74\" data-pp-blocktype=\"heading\" id=\"journalism-or-entertainment\">\n    Journalism or Entertainment?<br \/>\n<\/h3>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"75.0\">Kirkstall Road Enterprises, which was once known as Granada Entertainment USA and Granada America, enters into agreements with police departments sometimes without the knowledge or approval of other departments in city government. That\u2019s one reason prosecutors and other officials have felt blindsided by the problems \u201cThe First 48\u201d has caused them.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"76.0\">After 7-year-old Stanley-Jones was shot and killed by police in 2010 as \u201cThe First 48\u201d cameras rolled, then-Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said he was shocked to find out that his chief of police had agreed to embed a reality television crew with officers.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"77.0\">\u201cThat\u2019s the end of that,\u201d he reportedly told the chief before banning the practice.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"78.0\">Minneapolis police signed agreements to allow the program to film from 2007 to 2009 and then signed a new deal with the program in 2014. But the city ended its relationship with the show two years later, after legal fighting over the show\u2019s raw footage delayed court proceedings and then-Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman slammed the program.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"79.0\">\u201c\u2018The First 48\u2019 is an entertainment device. It\u2019s not a device seeking truth or justice,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/battle-over-first-48-tv-footage-now-embroils-up-to-12-court-cases\/372623831\">Freeman said at the time<\/a>. \u201cIt gets in the way of us doing our job, the defense doing their job. We wish the police would never have signed up for this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"80.0\">Freeman, since retired, did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"81.0\">Copies of contracts between police departments and Kirkstall Road Enterprises reviewed by ProPublica give producers broad access to investigations so long as they do not interfere with officers\u2019 work. They also have creative control over the final product, though departments are allowed to review an episode before it airs. Police departments can request changes, but producers are not obligated to make them.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"82.0\">The contracts also show that Kirkstall Road Enterprises does not provide departments with any monetary compensation. Before ending its relationship with the show after nine years, the chief of the Miami police requested that the production company donate $10,000 for every Miami episode to the department\u2019s charitable youth athletic league in order to continue filming. The show <a href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/entertainment\/article1951671.html\">did not accept<\/a> those terms.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"83.0\">There are benefits to law enforcement, like positive publicity and recruitment potential. Alabama police officials in Birmingham and Mobile said they believed the show helped them solve more murders.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"84.0\">After New Orleans ended its contract with the show, the head of the police union, the Police Association of New Orleans, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nola.com\/entertainment_life\/movies_tv\/new-orleans-ending-contracts-with-a-es-first-48-and-nightwatch-heres-what-to-know\/article_1f55cf95-47d7-56cf-8ab7-071b2c7f139b.html\">told a reporter<\/a>, \u201cAt a time when community relations are so fragile, locally and nationally, it was of enormous benefit to everyone to have an avenue open for the public to see what we do and how we do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"85.0\">Although the New Orleans police ended their relationship with \u201cThe First 48\u201d in 2016, they\u2019re now participating in a new A&#038;E program called \u201cHomicide Squad New Orleans,\u201d which began airing episodes this year.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"86.0\">Officers featured on \u201cThe First 48\u201d also sometimes enjoy a degree of local celebrity. One Dallas detective became so well known that a suspect recognized him as soon as he walked into an interrogation room. A detective in Memphis, according to court filings, carried photos of herself to sign for fans of the program. Fan accounts on Instagram wish their favorite detectives happy birthday and track their promotions.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"87.0\">The biggest issue with the show for defense attorneys and prosecutors is access to the raw footage, especially in the days before body-worn cameras \u2014 footage that may not make the ultimate \u201cThe First 48\u201d episode but could capture important conversations and some of the earliest images of the crime scene.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"88.0\">\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly important for prosecutors and defense lawyers to have video of anything that pertains to the scene or witnesses,\u201d said Moriarty.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"89.0\">But according to court documents, Kirkstall Road Enterprises instructs all of its field producers \u2014 employees \u201cwho act as producer, cameraman and sound technician all rolled into one,\u201d according to an affidavit provided by the show\u2019s senior executive producer \u2014 never to share raw footage with law enforcement. It is also the show\u2019s practice to decline all subpoenas for footage using First Amendment arguments, citing state shield laws that protect journalists from turning over their reporting material. Prosecutors and defense lawyers have struggled to convince judges that the needs of the state or the defendants override those protections. The show also claims it is routine practice to destroy all raw footage after a completed episode is delivered to A&#038;E.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"90.0\">But reporters and others say it\u2019s important to protect their work from being seized by police and prosecutors, as well as to maintain their credibility and independence. In short, they don\u2019t want to become, or even be seen as, arms of government. But Moriarty said she believes that, by embedding with police during an active investigation, \u201cThe First 48\u201d occupies a gray area.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"91.0\">In 2016, when Freeman, the former Hennepin county attorney, was trying to get footage from \u201cThe First 48\u201d in ongoing cases, he said that he found the show\u2019s refusal to provide it problematic.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"92.0\">\u201cIf \u2018The First 48\u2019 tries to pull the mantle of the First Amendment around this and be sanctimonious \u2014 you know something, defendants have rights,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.startribune.com\/battle-over-first-48-tv-footage-now-embroils-up-to-12-court-cases\/372623831\">he said<\/a> at the time. \u201cAnd people want the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"93.0\">Later that year, the contract between \u201cThe First 48\u201d and the city of Minneapolis expired and was not renewed. A spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department confirmed the end of the relationship and added that \u201cMPD has transitioned away from formal contractual agreements with media partners and now engages with them on a case-by-case basis.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"94\" data-pp-blocktype=\"image\">\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class alt width=\"3000\" height=\"2000\" loading=\"lazy\" js-autosizes src=\"https:\/\/img.assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/20250206-Maney-First48-043_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?crop=focalpoint&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=webp&#038;fp-x=0.5&#038;fp-y=0.5&#038;h=533&#038;q=75&#038;w=800&#038;s=0ed7dc7b05cd78f6733c34197c62ab95\" ><figcaption>\n        <span>Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who dismissed the case against Barrientos-Quintana, is critical of how \u201cThe First 48\u201d affects police investigations.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>        <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Sarahbeth Maney\/Propublica<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3 data-pp-id=\"95\" data-pp-blocktype=\"heading\" id=\"a-pivotal-scene\">\n    A Pivotal Scene<br \/>\n<\/h3>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"96.0\">Looking back on the \u201cThe First 48\u201d episode now, the Conviction Review Unit\u2019s Sperling said one part bothers her most: the oddly performative scene with Mickelson\u2019s family jammed around the dining room table with Gaiters and Dale.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"97.0\">Tina Rosebear, Mickelson\u2019s 44-year-old half-sister, was present the night of the detectives\u2019 visit, though she barely registered that a camera crew was filming; she was still in shock over the murder.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"99.0\">Rosebear, a personal care assistant and gas station clerk, took on a lot of responsibility in her family at an early age. She was more than an older sister to Mickelson, becoming his primary caregiver when he was 8 years old.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"100.0\">\u201cI know that\u2019s your son,\u201d she remembers telling their mother when Mickelson died, \u201cbut that\u2019s my baby.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"101.0\">Before \u201cThe First 48\u201d became more widely available, Rosebear kept multiple copies of the episode on DVD, labeled in Sharpie with the date of his death. She\u2019s watched the episode dozens of times. Although she acknowledges some might find it strange, she said she gets a sense of comfort seeing the blurred shots of her brother\u2019s body \u2014 the footage captured one of the last times she saw him in his \u201chuman form,\u201d as she puts it, before he was zipped in a body bag and later reduced to the box of ashes she keeps on her bookshelf.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"102.0\">But Rosebear said it only took until Page 40 of the Conviction Review Unit report for her to realize that she and her family had been misled by the police \u2014 and also by \u201cThe First 48.\u201d <\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"102.1\">\u201cI feel like it was all done for the TV show,\u201d she said. \u201cBut that was unfair to him, and that was unfair to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure data-pp-id=\"103\" data-pp-blocktype=\"image\">\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class alt width=\"3000\" height=\"2000\" loading=\"lazy\" js-autosizes src=\"https:\/\/img.assets-d.propublica.org\/v5\/images\/20250206-Maney-First48-056_maxWidth_3000_maxHeight_3000_ppi_72_quality_95_embedColorProfile_true.jpg?crop=focalpoint&#038;fit=crop&#038;fm=webp&#038;fp-x=0.5&#038;fp-y=0.5&#038;h=533&#038;q=75&#038;w=800&#038;s=9f3b881dd89e4a255e1ac100da4791b1\" ><figcaption>\n        <span>Mickelson\u2019s half-sister, Tina Rosebear, apologized to Barrientos-Quintana after he was freed and is concerned about the role \u201cThe First 48\u201d played in the police investigation. \u201cIf their cameras behind the detectives in the investigations are going to hinder the rightful convictions,\u201d she said, \u201cthen I don\u2019t think they should be able to.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>        <span><br \/>\n        <span>Credit: <\/span><br \/>\n        Sarahbeth Maney\/Propublica<br \/>\n    <\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"104.0\">Rosebear attended the press conference announcing Barrientos-Quintana\u2019s release. She\u2019d seen him in court at his trial, but that was their first real meeting. She apologized to him on behalf of her family and gave him a hug.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"105.0\">\u201cHe gets to be with his family now, and now we can try to continue to heal with the loss of my brother now that everything was just ripped back open,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"106.0\">The Conviction Review Unit report not only cleared Barrientos-Quintana, but it contained information that could theoretically point to the real gunman. But Rosebear isn\u2019t sure she could handle going through the whole process again \u2014 another arrest, another trial.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"107.0\">Once a fan of \u201cThe First 48,\u201d Rosebear said she now hopes that the program is shut down.<\/p>\n<p data-pp-blocktype=\"copy\" data-pp-id=\"107.1\">\u201cCould they have did a better job if the TV show wasn\u2019t involved? Probably,\u201d she said. \u201cNobody knows now. Because it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n<div data-pp-location=\"bottom-note\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/people\/mariam-elba\">Mariam Elba<\/a> contributed research. Design and development by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/people\/zisiga-mukulu\">Zisiga Mukulu<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.propublica.org\/article\/first-48-reality-tv-police-minneapolis-wrongful-conviction-barrientos-quintana\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Sign up for Dispatches, a newsletter that spotlights wrongdoing around the country, to receive our stories in your inbox every week. Reporting Highlights A First for \u201cThe First 48\u201d: The exoneration of Edgar Barrientos-Quintana may be the first in the country related directly to the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":844782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26694,129577],"tags":[143566,143565],"class_list":{"0":"post-844781","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-inaccurate","8":"category-wholly","9":"tag-inaccurate","10":"tag-wholly"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844782"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}