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Castro Charged in Minneapolis
Federal prosecutors have charged U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro with lying to investigators about the events leading up to the January shooting of Venezuelan man Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis.
“Christian Castro, the officer who authorities say shot Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg in January”
The charges follow Castro’s release from a Texas jail last week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to immediately sign an extradition warrant to hand him over to Minnesota authorities, where Castro faces separate state charges.
An AP source said Castro has been charged with making false statements to federal investigators, and the federal case remains under seal.
Federal authorities initially accused Sosa-Celis and another man of beating an officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel, but federal prosecutors dropped those charges after video evidence showed the officers may have lied about the encounter.
Competing Accounts and Sealed Case
NPR reported that the criminal case is still under seal but was confirmed by a person not authorized to speak publicly about an ongoing investigation, and it said authorities say Castro fired through a closed door and shot Julio Sosa-Celis in the leg.
NPR also said the Justice Department initially charged Sosa-Celis with assault, but later dropped the charges after acknowledging that the officers involved had made untruthful statements about the incident.
ProPublica reported that DOJ leaders in Washington, D.C. quashed plans to bring civil rights charges against Castro over the federal prosecutor’s “strongest possible” objections, and it quoted Matthew Evans telling lawyers to prepare for Castro to be charged “only with False Statements.”
ProPublica said Evans wrote, “I objected in the strongest possible terms and fought it as hard as I could. It wasn’t enough,” describing internal deliberations over the severity of charges.
What Comes Next for Minnesota
The federal charges come as Minnesota authorities have charged Castro separately with assault and false reporting of a crime related to the same shooting, and the AP said the federal charges follow Castro’s release after Abbott’s refusal to immediately sign extradition.
“Castro is separately facing state-level assault charges over the case in Minnesota”
CNN reported that local prosecutors in Minnesota had already charged Castro with second-degree assault and making a false report, and it said the Justice Department was still considering whether to bring civil rights charges against Castro.
NPR said Castro is separately facing state-level assault charges over the case in Minnesota, and it described a federal judge in Texas ruling against Minnesota’s request to keep Castro in jail pending extradition.
ProPublica added that Castro was put on leave by the Department of Homeland Security and that he is facing multiple state felony charges in Minnesota, including assault with a dangerous weapon.