ST. PAUL, Minn.—Two days after Minnesota state Sen. Michael Holmstrom, a Republican, was sworn in as a new state senator in November, a judge reversed a conviction in one of Minnesota’s many welfare fraud cases.
That caught his attention and sparked outrage and questions from his constituents.
Holmstrom’s social media posts on the overturned verdict and the state’s other fraud scandals drew millions of views and tens of thousands of comments. Several people said that until they heard about the case of Abdifatah Abdulkadir Yusuf, they had no idea that trial judges have the power to overturn jury verdicts….