Hennepin County Attorney's Office on the front line of holding federal immigration agents criminally liable

The investigations into the Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti and the shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis have entered a critical stage.

For the first time since the shootings, the Hennepin County attorney now has access to evidence from federal investigators.

The Hennepin County Attorney's Office is now on the front line of holding federal immigration agents potentially criminally liable for their actions. The investigation into local ICE shootings appeared to have stalled out this winter with federal investigators refusing to cooperate with locals.

In March, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office even filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration to demand the evidence be turned over. But behind the scenes in the last five weeks, locally based federal investigators had been in talks with the Hennepin County Attorney's Office to turn over the evidence, an arrangement announced this week. 

"It includes many, many statements by agents and so our people have been going through that, working, and I am sure this weekend, to try to make sure we have everything and where we are at," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriary said.

The evidence sharing in the Minnesota cases now has potential consequences for two other cases; in the last two weeks, ICE agents have killed men in Houston, Texas and Biddeford, Maine. Texas district attorneys have already reached out to Moriarty. 

"So the district attorney there, his team reached out to us and our team, and we have met with them. And the reason is a lot of what's happened here, I think people know by now, is very unusual," Moriarty said.

As Moriarty will likely face a highly unusual situation: the agents who have been charged are expected to ask that their cases be tried in federal court, something they can do because they are federal agents. But if any of the current or future cases get moved to federal court, Moriarty's Hennepin County team will be the ones to handle the case. 

"There has to be a hearing where they have the burden of proof to show that they were acting with the authority of their job," she said.

If any cases do get moved to federal court, any accused agents will face a pool of jurors drawn from the entire state, not just from Hennepin County.

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