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When Edgar Barientos Kuntana left prison last November, he told reporters: It was a modest moment in prison for nearly 16 years and was in a prison for murder. And that was in stark contrast to the reality television show that portrayed the investigation that led to his arrest.
Barientos Kuntana was released after it was discovered that the Minnesota Attorney General’s Conviction Review Unit recommended that he was falsely convicted and invalidated his conviction. The unit’s 180-page report cited the failures of police, prosecutors and defense lawyers of Barientos Kuntana himself. But it also mentioned something reporter Jessica Lassenhop had never seen before in the case of illegal belief. The popular true crime show, “The First 48” shows, begins each episode with the premise that if the police do not have a critical lead within 48 hours of the murder, the opportunity to resolve the murder will be “cut in half.”
With Propublica’s recently released two-storey, Lussenhop follows Show’s involvement in the murder investigation that landed Balient Skintana in prison, and how the two-year history of show’s filming in cities across the US left behind the complicated path of problems and city regret.
I spoke to Lassenhop about how the “first 48” operates and why so many cities have stopped working with the show.
What did you surprise while reporting this story?
It is known that these episodes often air before the defendant’s trial. The show has a disclaimer about the effect of “not guilty until everyone is proven guilty” but those words go in a flash, and as an audience, I certainly don’t pay much attention to them. This person is still innocent until proven guilty, but the show does a good job portraying them as guilty.
The only other surprising thing was the number of times that there were problems. There are very famous controversy and there are shows like “live PD” that have been cancelled. However, “The First 48” has been airing for 20 years, with multiple cities ending their relationship with the show. It’s not just the defense bars that get mad at it. It’s the prosecutors, the judges, the mayors, the people on the city council, saying, “Why did our police department decide to do this?”
Why do police take part in this show?
As far as we understand, the police department hasn’t made any money from this show. If litigation is considered, the show may make city money. The question then is, why do police stations agree to do this? I think the answer is that police stations are often the subject of negative news reports. They want to shine a light on the work of all who support murder detectives and investigations.
But one other important thing is the kind of murder that often doesn’t attract attention from many presses. “The First 48” often interviews the victim’s family. They show photos of the victims on television and say a bit about their lives. That could be far more media attention than these victims would otherwise have. They are often poor, they are often people of color, the kind of murder that may be barely attracting attention in their local media. So, in a sense, I think it provides services.
Watch: Man falsely convicted as “The First 48” reality cup show
How does this look similar and different to other instances of illegal belief?
What you can see in the Barrientos-Quintana Conviction Review Unit Report is a feature of illegal beliefs. Police do not follow the photo lineup procedure. The defense claims that the prosecution withheld evidence from them. But to our knowledge, this is the first exoneration linked to the “first 48.”
Several people, including Hennepin County Prosecutor, told me that the very premise of the show is very problematic as it sounds like you’re in a hurry. The show has a literal clock that clicks in the corner of the screen. Obviously, you want a good lead early on, but you have to open your mind to the proof that you will play later. One of the great evidence in the exoneration of Barientos Kuntana is the presence of his surveillance tape at a grocery store where the girl is located about 33 minutes before the shooting occurs. That was not evidence that they had within the first 48 hours or even within the first two weeks.
There is also the concept that if you have a camera crew, you behave differently. Especially with the camera crew on a show called “The First 48,” which means it’s better to make something happen in 48 hours. That can affect your behavior as an investigator.
What did you hear from the family of Jesse Mickelson, who was convicted of murder, the victim, Barientos Kuntana?
Several members of the family accepted that Balientus Kuntana was not innocent. They were some of the most engaging conversations I had. If you spend 15 years in a way, not only believe he is guilty, but hate him for destroying his family, presenting new evidence and thinking, “Wait a minute, I think we’ve made this wrong,” then it takes a lot of courage and heart.
I spoke to Mickelson’s half-sister, Tina Rosevia. She considered the show a kind of document of this terrible experience her family had, but it was an acknowledgement of her brother’s life. She felt it was almost a comfortable source to watch the episode. But now she has very different feelings, and she draws a bright line that unites the fact that their family may never know who shot and killed Mickelson. Maybe these investigators were in a hurry for the last 48 hours and didn’t do as good a job as they could. For a variety of reasons, the opportunity has passed to catch anyone who has done this and she cannot wonder if it is somehow the show’s fault.
The companies that created the show did not respond to numerous requests and detailed lists of questions for comments. The detectives involved in the incident also declined to comment. One prosecutor in the original case against Barientos Kuntana is now a judge and is therefore prevented from speaking to the press by the Minnesota Judicial Act code. Another had problems with many characteristics of the Conviction Review Unit Report, but agreed that the “first 48” was a problem.
“Completely inaccurate photo”: Real-life police officer shows a man wrongly convicted as “The First 48.”
