Federal prosecutors are beating a broad retreat from cases they had brought against people protesting the surge of CBP and ICE agents into Chicago.
It is a stunning comedown. Prosecutors moved to abandon on Thursday three cases brought against protestors, two of which DHS described as being brought against “domestic terrorists” as part of a national media campaign to portray the situation in Chicago as demanding a military deployment.
Now, the cases have come to nothing amid increasing scrutiny from the courts.
In the case of Marimar Martinez, the 30-year old Chicagoan shot five times in October by a Border Patrol officer, DHS officials accused her of being part of a convoy of “10 cars” that “rammed” and “boxed” agents in. Those allegations were contradicted by an affidavit filed by federal agents in the case and evidence that was introduced later.
The motion to drop the charges against Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, another protester, comes at a critical time in the case.
Text messages from the Border Patrol officer involved in the shooting, Charles Exum, appeared to show him bragging about the incident. “Read it … I fired 5 shots and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys,” one text from Exum read.
Attorneys for Martinez had planned to discuss more text messages they received from officers involved in the shooting at a hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon. The judge in the case had reviewed the texts in her chambers before ordering them released.
Prosecutors moved to dismiss the case hours before the hearing.
Christopher Parente, an attorney for Martinez, told TPM that he would still go to the hearing.
“We are happy that the U.S. Attorney’s Office made the right decision here,” he said.
Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois, told TPM in a statement that prosecutors were “constantly evaluating new facts and information relating to cases and investigations arising out of Operation Midway Blitz, the largest ever law enforcement surge in the Northern District of Illinois.”
“It helps ensure that the interests of justice are served in each and every case, and that those cases that are charged are appropriately adjudicated through our federal court system,” he added.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin struck a completely different tone, doubling down in calling Martinez a “domestic terrorist” and accusing her of participating in an ambush. McLaughlin lauded federal agents for “incredible restraint and prudence in their exercise of force.”
“For questions on charges, we refer you to the DOJ,” she added.
The judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis for the Northern District of Illinois, will still have a chance to review the circumstances of the dismissal, though these motions are typically approved.
Chicago federal prosecutors also moved to dismiss a case on Thursday against Dana Briggs, a 70-year-old Air Force veteran initially charged with felony assault over an Oct. 4 incident. Per a charging document, Briggs brushed against a Border Patrol officer as he tried to hand his phone off to another protestor while being placed under arrest.
Prosecutors first downgraded that case to a misdemeanor. On Thursday, they moved to dismiss the matter entirely.
The dismissals come after CBP commander and mass deportation hype man Greg Bovino left Chicago for an operation in Charlotte, North Carolina. Bovino was accused multiple times of violating a court order barring him and other federal officials from using tear gas unless absolutely necessary; Briggs had asked for him to testify in his case.
Cases against several other protestors, including a man accused of injuring Bovino’s groin, have been dropped by prosecutors or no-billed by grand juries in recent weeks.
Per a report in the South Side Weekly, federal agents in Chicago used tear gas and pepper spray more times in one day in October than Chicago Police did all year.
Trump/ICE/CBP’s wild, dishonest accusations are all well and good until it’s time for a lawyer to sign their name(s) to them and submit them to a court of law, part the millionth.
So Marimar Martinez and has had to retain counsel in order to defend herself against what seems to have been a politically motivated prosecution. Dana Briggs has had to retain counsel to defend himself against a felony assault charge for brushing his hand against an officer. Evidently several other protesters have either had to retain counsel or were threatened with prosecution before the DoJ realized what a massive pile they were about to explode on themselves.
At the very least, the DoJ should pay the legal fees for these people. In a just world it would be much more signicant repercussions.
That’s what happens when the grand juries can’t even support the prosecutions’ theories and return a no-judgement.
Embarrassment after embarrassment.
But it hasn’t stopped the raids. And those need to stop, post-haste.
What in hell has happened to this country?? I know, I know………..
Let Bovino and all the right-wing ICE hires work off the monetary damages by pulling weeds alongside the highway in Louisiana in the summer. And make them wear full battle-rattle, too, since they want to cosplay as soldiers so badly.