# Michael Freeman *Hennepin County Attorney (1991–1999, 2007–2023), Minnesota state senator (1982–1991), and son of Governor Orville Freeman.* Michael Orville Freeman (born May 7, 1948, in [[Minneapolis]]) was Hennepin County Attorney for two periods totalling twenty-four years: January 7, 1991 to January 5, 1999, and January 3, 2007 to January 2, 2023.[^1][^2] Before his first term he represented District 40 in the [[Minnesota Senate]] from 1982 to 1991, and was Majority Whip in his second term.[^1][^2] His father, [[Orville Freeman]], was the first DFL governor of [[Minnesota]] and later Secretary of Agriculture in the Kennedy administration.[^3][^4] His second tenure produced four high-profile police-conduct decisions. The office declined to charge in the Jamar Clark (2016) and Thurman Blevins (2018) cases. It charged Mohamed Noor (2018), and Derek Chauvin and three other officers (2020).[^1][^2] On September 11, 2020, the trial judge disqualified Freeman and three of his staff lawyers from the Floyd cases. Attorney General [[Keith Ellison]]'s team obtained Chauvin's conviction on April 20, 2021.[^2][^5] Freeman announced on September 1, 2021 that he would not seek re-election.[^1][^2] While holding the county office, Freeman sought the DFL nomination for governor twice, in 1994 and 1998.[^1][^2] The county attorney is separately elected, and the county board that funds the office has no power to remove its holder.[^6] The record shows that structure at work in his 2019 leave of absence and in the 2021–2022 case of the county sheriff.[^2][^6] ## Who Freeman was born in Minneapolis on May 7, 1948. His family moved to Maryland when his father joined President Kennedy's cabinet, and he graduated from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School.[^1][^7][^2] He received a B.A. from Rutgers in 1970 and a J.D. from the [[University of Minnesota]] Law School in 1974.[^1][^2] In 2020 the law school profiled him as a 1974 graduate serving as Hennepin County Attorney.[^8] Orville Freeman organized the DFL party apparatus under Hubert Humphrey as party secretary in 1946, and he managed Humphrey's 1948 U.S. Senate campaign.[^9][^10] He lost the 1950 race for attorney general. In 1952 he lost the governor's race to the Republican incumbent, [[C. Elmer Anderson]].[^9] On November 2, 1954 he defeated Anderson by 68,234 votes, which gave the DFL the executive branch.[^3] He was re-elected in 1956 and 1958.[^9] He was sworn in as Secretary of Agriculture on January 20, 1961.[^4][^9] The State's own human-rights agency credits Governor Orville Freeman with signing FEPA in 1955. FEPA banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color and creed.[^11] Seventy-one years later, on January 14, 2026, the [[United States Department of Justice]] issued release No. 26-21, titled *United States Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime*. "Minnesota's 'Affirmative Action' Regime" is the United States' own term for the State's apparatus. Attorney General Pamela Bondi certified the case as a matter of general public importance.[^12] The action is pending. Its docket number and the complaint's specific allegations are not in this record.[^12] ## What **Minnesota Senate.** Freeman was elected in 1982 from District 40, which covers Richfield and part of Bloomington. He was re-elected in 1986 and served to 1991. In his second term he was Majority Whip and vice chair of Finance and of Economic Development and Commerce.[^1][^2] **Hennepin County Attorney.** Freeman succeeded Tom Johnson on January 7, 1991, and was succeeded by [[Amy Klobuchar]] on January 5, 1999.[^1][^2] He won the office again in 2006, after Klobuchar was elected to the U.S. Senate, and served from January 3, 2007 to January 2, 2023. His successor was Mary Moriarty.[^1][^2][^13] Local broadcast coverage marked the end of his tenure at twenty-four years.[^14] **Campaigns for governor.** In 1994 Freeman lost the DFL endorsement to [[John Marty]]. In 1998 he won the endorsement but lost the primary to [[Skip Humphrey]], Hubert Humphrey's son. Humphrey then lost the general election to [[Jesse Ventura]].[^1][^2] ### Police-conduct matters - **Jamar Clark (2016).** On March 30, 2016, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced it would not charge Officers Ringgenberg and Schwarze. The office cited forensic evidence, including Clark's DNA on an officer's gun.[^15] - **Thurman Blevins (2018).** Freeman declined to charge the officers. Body-camera footage established that Blevins fired at the officers first.[^1][^2] - **Mohamed Noor (2018).** Freeman charged Noor in the killing of Justine Damond. The case produced the first murder conviction of a Minnesota police officer for an on-duty killing.[^1][^2] - **George Floyd (2020).** Freeman charged Chauvin and three other officers.[^1][^2][^16] A recall petition drive followed, citing the delay in charging and his refusal to recuse.[^2] On September 11, 2020, Judge Peter Cahill disqualified Freeman and three of his staff lawyers from the cases. The order followed a meeting between staff and the medical examiner that was alleged to violate attorney conduct rules.[^1][^2] Freeman continued to provide "strategic advice and coordination" to Ellison's team, which obtained Chauvin's conviction on April 20, 2021.[^2] A Minnesota Time Table row dated May 26, 2020 records that Walz appointed Ellison lead prosecutor in the Chauvin case, bypassing the county attorney.[^5] ## When - 1982–1991: Minnesota Senate, District 40.[^1] - January 7, 1991 – January 5, 1999: first tenure as county attorney.[^1][^2] - 1994 and 1998: campaigns for the DFL nomination for governor.[^2] - January 3, 2007 – January 2, 2023: second tenure as county attorney.[^1][^2] - 2019: leave of absence for treatment, then a return to office.[^2] - September 11, 2020: disqualified from the Floyd cases.[^2] - April 20, 2021: Chauvin convicted on the Attorney General's prosecution.[^2][^5] - September 1, 2021: announcement that he would not seek re-election.[^1][^2] ## Where Freeman's offices were in Hennepin County, Minnesota's most populous county, and in Senate District 40 (Richfield and part of Bloomington).[^17][^1] Seven county commissioners govern Hennepin County, each elected by district and each representing roughly 180,000 constituents.[^6][^18] ## Why The record contains the office's stated grounds for its two declinations. In the Clark case the office cited forensic evidence.[^15] In the Blevins case, body-camera footage showed that Blevins fired first.[^2] The record does not establish the reasons behind Freeman's other charging decisions or behind his 2021 announcement. This article gives the sequence of events, not their causes.[^2] ## How The County Attorney and the Sheriff of Hennepin County are elected separately from the county board, so the board that funds them cannot remove them.[^6] In 2019 Freeman took a leave of absence to enter treatment for alcohol addiction, and afterwards he returned to the office.[^1][^2] The sheriff's case shows the same structure. Sheriff David Hutchinson pleaded guilty to fourth-degree DWI on December 16, 2021, after a crash in his government-issued vehicle on December 8.[^19] The Star Tribune reported that on January 7, 2022, five of the seven commissioners called for his resignation and that the board had no authority to remove him.[^20] On February 2, 2022, Hutchinson announced he would not seek re-election, and he served until January 2023.[^21] The Floyd prosecution shows a second mechanism. A trial judge, not the county board or the voters, removed the county attorney from his office's largest case.[^2] ## How many - 24 years as Hennepin County Attorney, over two tenures.[^1][^14] - 4 high-profile police-conduct matters in the second tenure: 2 declined, 2 charged.[^2] - 3 staff lawyers disqualified with Freeman on September 11, 2020.[^2] - 7 county commissioners. The Star Tribune reported that 5 of the 7 called for the sheriff's resignation on January 7, 2022.[^6][^20] - 68,234 votes: Orville Freeman's margin over Anderson in 1954.[^3] ## In the at-issue record The project's at-issue pairs set documented facts beside federal executive actions. The executive orders cited below are each pair's anchor document. They do not themselves address Freeman. - [[At issue 097 - Michael Freeman announced his retirement on September 1]]: Freeman's September 1, 2021 announcement came after the April 20, 2021 conviction in the case his office had been disqualified from. The pair presents this as sequence, not cause.[^2][^22] - [[At issue 098 - Michael Freeman took a leave of absence in]]: the 2019 leave of absence and the office's elected status. The pair concerns the removal structure, not the illness.[^2][^6][^22] - [[At issue 099 - Michael Freeman's family moved to Maryland when his]]: the family's move to Maryland when Orville Freeman joined Kennedy's cabinet.[^2][^23] - [[At issue 012 - DOJ 25-469, May 5, 2025 It is unconstitutional]]: the pair records that DOJ release 25-469 (May 5, 2025) announced an investigation of the Hennepin County Attorney's Office. The release states, "It is unconstitutional and morally abhorrent to make different prosecutorial decisions based on a person's race." The pair also records that the document drawing the investigation was the office's own. The release itself is not in this record, and the investigation's status is not documented here.[^24] - [[At issue 015 - Three of the last four Hennepin County Attorneys]]: Tom Johnson (1970), Freeman (1974) and Mary Moriarty (1989) all graduated from the University of Minnesota law school.[^8][^2][^24] - [[At issue 018 - Nash's assistant took the chair in 1920, held]]: the pair records that an earlier assistant took the county attorney's chair in 1920, held it for a decade, and became governor in 1931. It sets Freeman's 1998 campaign for governor beside that precedent.[^2][^22] - [[At issue 020 - In the four highest-salience police-conduct matters of Michael]]: in four matters the office declined twice and charged twice. In the largest, the trial judge removed the office and the Attorney General completed the case.[^2][^22] - [[At issue 001 - On May 8, 1968, Public Law 90-302 added]]: the pair records that Public Law 90-302 (May 8, 1968) added Section 13 to the National School Lunch Act under the heading "SPECIAL FOOD SERVICE PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN". The pair also records that Orville Freeman was Secretary of Agriculture on that date.[^4][^23] - [[At issue 002 - Lyndon Johnson's remarks at the signing of the]]: the pair records that President Johnson's remarks at the signing of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 open with "Secretary Freeman, Senator Ellender."[^23] ## In the Minnesota record ### When - March 30, 2016 (Time Table TL-0850): the Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced no charges in the Jamar Clark shooting.[^15] - May 26, 2020 (Time Table TL-0883): Walz appointed Ellison lead prosecutor in the Chauvin case, bypassing Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman.[^5] ## Notes [^1]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Legislator record: Michael O. Freeman* (undated). Cited in the project dossier, together with the MNHS finding aid and Wikipedia, for Freeman's birth, Senate District 40 service, county attorney terms and 2021 announcement. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/legdb/fulldetail?id=10197 [^2]: Wikipedia, *Michael O. Freeman* (retrieved 2026). Source for education, Senate service, the 1994 and 1998 endorsements, the 2016–2020 charging decisions, the September 11, 2020 disqualification, "strategic advice and coordination", the April 20, 2021 conviction and the 2019 leave. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_O._Freeman [^3]: Minnesota Legislative Reference Library, *Gov. Orville Freeman* (undated). Records Freeman's defeat of C. Elmer Anderson by 68,234 votes on November 2, 1954, and the DFL's control of the executive branch. https://www.lrl.mn.gov/mngov/govbio?govid=10 [^4]: Miller Center, *Orville Freeman (1961): Secretary of Agriculture* (undated). Covers Orville Freeman's service as Secretary of Agriculture in the Kennedy administration. https://millercenter.org/president/kennedy/essays/freeman-1961-orville-secretary-of-agriculture [^5]: CBS News, *Keith Ellison to lead George Floyd case prosecution* (2020); Minnesota Time Table rows TL-0883 and TL-0895. Records Ellison's appointment as lead prosecutor in the Chauvin case, dated May 26, 2020 in the Time Table. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/keith-ellison-george-floyd-case-prosecution/ [^6]: Ballotpedia, *Government of Hennepin County, Minnesota* (undated). States that seven commissioners are elected by district and that the County Attorney and Sheriff are separately elected. https://ballotpedia.org/Government_of_Hennepin_County,_Minnesota [^7]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Finding aid 00531* (undated). Cited in the project dossier for Freeman's biography. https://www2.mnhs.org/library/findaids/00531.xml [^8]: University of Minnesota Law School, *Asked & Answered: Mike Freeman '74: Hennepin County Attorney* (January 31, 2020). Identifies Freeman as a 1974 graduate and as Hennepin County Attorney. https://law.umn.edu/news/2020-01-31-asked-answered-mike-freeman-74-hennepin-county-attorney-more-two-decades [^9]: Wikipedia, *Orville Freeman* (retrieved 2026); Time Table rows TL-0008, TL-0039, TL-0047, TL-0061, TL-0078, TL-0095 and TL-0113. Covers his role as DFL secretary in 1946, the 1950 and 1952 losses, the 1954 election as first DFL governor, the 1956 and 1958 re-elections and his swearing-in on January 20, 1961. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orville_Freeman [^10]: Wik