MINNEAPOLIS — A staffing crisis at Minnesota’s federal prosecutor’s office has allowed dangerous criminals to walk free as career attorneys abandon their posts over disagreements with current administration policies.
The chaos enabled repeat offender Cory Allen McKay, with a dozen felony convictions spanning three decades, to escape justice. McKay, whose violent history includes choking a pregnant woman and placing a shotgun beneath someone’s chin, was facing methamphetamine trafficking charges that carried a potential 25-year sentence. However, when his assigned prosecutor retired unexpectedly, authorities dropped the case entirely.
The Trump administration credits its strict immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota with enhancing community safety. However, this approach has severely damaged the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where numerous prosecutors have expressed frustration with how Trump’s Justice Department appointees have managed operations.
Similar resignation waves have struck prosecutor offices nationwide, from New York to Virginia, as attorneys protest what they perceive as political interference in legal decisions under Trump’s leadership. Minnesota’s office has experienced particularly severe impacts.
An increasing number of accused criminals like McKay are avoiding consequences as overwhelmed remaining prosecutors must abandon cases, halt investigations before filing charges, and negotiate plea deals and postponements.
Regional authorities express concern that the office may temporarily lose its capacity to prosecute the state’s most dangerous criminals.
“The consequence will be reduced capability to pursue dangerous con artists, sexual predators, violent criminal organizations and narcotics dealers,” stated John Marti, a Minneapolis attorney who previously served as a fraud prosecutor in the office until 2015.
Following a request for additional time to assign someone to McKay’s case, the office under Trump appointee Daniel Rosen dismissed it so suddenly that McKay’s attorney learned of her client’s release only afterward.
“This development completely caught me off guard,” McKay’s attorney Jean Brandl remarked. Though she hasn’t contacted him yet, “I can assure you he’s pleased with this outcome.”
During the past year, the Minnesota office’s assistant U.S. attorney count has dropped from more than 40 prosecutors before Trump’s return to office to under two dozen. This information comes from a former federal prosecutor who requested anonymity due to lack of authorization to discuss staffing issues with The Associated Press.
The departures started last year as multiple prosecutors “anticipated changes ahead” regarding their positions and the government’s approach to justice under the new administration, the former federal prosecutor explained.
The situation worsened after Trump’s Justice Department appointees intervened to halt a collaborative state-federal investigation into the January 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross. While Trump administration officials labeled Good a “domestic terrorist” and claimed Ross acted in self-defense, some office members considered the killing potentially criminal.
Career prosecutors also opposed orders to redirect significant resources toward immigration cases and were frustrated by repeated ICE violations of court orders that angered judges.
“They could not in good conscience participate in what they have seen,” stated a letter published last week by eight former permanent or acting U.S. attorneys in Minnesota.
Notable departures last month included former acting office leader Joe Thompson and criminal division chief Harry Jacobs. Thompson, a Justice Department veteran recognized for major fraud investigations, worked with Jacobs to expose the $300 million Feeding Our Future scandal, resulting in charges against more than 75 defendants for defrauding a COVID-19-era child nutrition program.
When experienced attorneys depart, leadership evaluates their caseloads and determines how many cases can be transferred to remaining staff and which must be abandoned due to reduced resources.
Court documents reveal the office operating in emergency mode, bringing in out-of-state prosecutors, requesting hearing delays from judges, and attempting to resolve cases through dismissals and plea agreements. Defense attorneys are capitalizing by demanding swift trials and filing motions requiring prosecutor responses.
The Justice Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office have not responded to comment requests. Former office spokesperson and prosecutor Melinda Williams was among those who departed.
McKay, age 47, is not the sole drug trafficking defendant to benefit from this situation.
The office also dismissed a case last month against a man arrested in September after investigators allegedly discovered him with drugs intended for Twin Cities distribution, including 7,600 fentanyl pills and 15 pounds of cocaine.
A third dropped case involved a man charged with methamphetamine distribution conspiracy after Rochester police discovered three pounds of the drug during a January 2025 vehicle search.
“With the mass departures there, it’s creating difficulties for everyone statewide,” said Clay County Sheriff Mark Empting, who described McKay as presenting “a major public safety threat” if he returns to Moorhead. “Hopefully they will reconstruct the office and resume handling these cases.”
McKay’s case originated in 2024 when FedEx workers in Fargo, North Dakota, found a package containing nearly 10 pounds of high-purity methamphetamine shipped from California and addressed to McKay. Police valued the drugs at $80,000 on the street.
An undercover detective disguised as a FedEx worker delivered the package to McKay, leading to his arrest. Investigators claim cellphone searches revealed text messages connecting McKay to suspected drug dealers in Minnesota, California, Chicago and Mexico.
McKay remained in jail nearly a year awaiting state charges before a federal grand jury issued an indictment in May 2025 with two methamphetamine distribution charges. The indictment included enhanced sentencing due to his multiple prior violent felonies.
His record includes aggravated assault in 2013, domestic assault by strangulation in 2017, and assault causing substantial bodily harm in 2021. Prosecutors noted at least a dozen felony convictions, beginning at age 16 when he fired a short-barreled shotgun under a victim’s chin.
Veteran assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Hollenhorst argued last summer that McKay posed too great a danger for pre-trial release, even to substance abuse treatment, stating his violent history would “endanger numerous people.”
A judge concurred, observing McKay’s pattern of missing court appearances, providing false identities to police, and violating probation terms.
However, last month the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Hollenhorst was “retiring unexpectedly” and requested a delay. A judge rescheduled the trial from February 12 to March 2. The office dismissed the case days later without explanation. A judge ordered McKay’s immediate release. Hollenhorst declined to comment.
On January 31, McKay left the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, 30 miles from Minneapolis. AP attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
McKay’s attorney Brandl said while the result favored her client, Hollenhorst’s retirement after 40 Justice Department years represented “a significant loss.”
“He was an excellent prosecutor,” she said. “He was fair and viewed our clients as people, not just case numbers.”
