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Evidence finally turned over
Minnesota prosecutors said the Trump administration turned over evidence long sought in their probe into the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during pitched protests against an immigration enforcement crackdown earlier this year.
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the evidence included previously withheld hard drives containing statements and police body camera video, and she said federal investigators also turned over Good’s badly damaged SUV.
Good, a 37-year-old mother of three, was shot and killed in her vehicle while leaving an anti-immigration enforcement protest in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, and Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, was shot and killed by federal officers during a Jan. 24 protest.
Moriarty said, "The wonderful thing now is we have all the evidence," and she added, "Any time the government is responsible in whatever way of taking the life of a community member we need to have a full and thorough investigation."
Jurisdiction fight and delays
The case has been shaped by disputes over whether state prosecutors can investigate federal officers, with the federal government suggesting state prosecutors don’t have jurisdiction to investigate federal officers.
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans wrote in a legal filing, "We are willing to share evidence with you if the exchange is reciprocal," and he said federal agencies declined to do so thus far.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said he remains "deeply troubled" that it took more than half a year for federal officials to hand over the materials, despite long standing cooperation between the agencies on major investigations.
Ellison added, "It should never have taken this long," and he said, "I hope that this is the beginning of a major course correction on the part of the federal government."
What happens next
Moriarty said local investigators have been poring over the evidence after receiving it in recent days, but she declined to provide details on what prompted the federal government to turn it over.
Documents recently filed in the lawsuit brought by state and local officials against the Homeland Security and Justice departments suggest the breakthrough came after federal officials asked the state in June for evidence gathered in the investigation of ICE agent Christian Castro.
Castro, 52, was charged with assault and falsely reporting a crime in connection with the Jan. 14 nonfatal shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis, and prosecutors say Castro fired through a home’s front door and shot Sosa-Celis in the thigh while in pursuit of another man.
In Houston, prosecutors complained the administration was still withholding critical information in their investigation into a fatal shooting by an ICE officer last week, as the PBS report said the progress in Minnesota came alongside that development.
