Minnesota is suing the Trump administration to obtain evidence of the murders of Renee Good, Alex Pretti
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Minnesota officials sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for evidence they say they need to independently investigate the shootings of three officers in the state, including the killings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti.
The lawsuit alleges that the federal government has reneged on its promise to cooperate with the state’s investigation after a crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year. Federal officials are seeking a court order requiring the Trump administration to do so.
“We are committed to fighting for the transparency and accountability that the federal government wants to avoid,” Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty told reporters.
The case reflects a growing conflict between Minnesota leaders and the Trump administration over investigations into shootings by federal officials that have sparked public outcry and protests.
The Trump administration has suggested that Minnesota officials do not have the power to investigate, but state officials insist they must conduct their own investigation because they do not trust the federal government to investigate.
“There should be an investigation any time a federal agent or federal agent takes someone’s life in our community,” Moriarty said.
Minnesota investigators said they could not find any evidence in the shooting death of a Minneapolis woman after the FBI took over the case, and Gov. Tim Walz criticized the Trump administration for shutting them down: “It sounds very unlikely that we will get a good result.”
Continued fall in partial closure
The administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Louis area. Paul for an immigration crackdown known as Operation Metro Surge, part of US President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign.
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) declared its largest immigration enforcement operation a success but was heavily criticized by Minnesota leaders, who raised questions about police behavior.
Work on the Homeland Security shutdown continues, as Democrats in Congress hold back funding in an effort to block Trump’s immigration agenda.
A DHS spokeswoman said in an email Tuesday that all shootings are reviewed by the appropriate law enforcement agency, followed by an independent review within the agency.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said in January it would open a human rights investigation into Pretti’s murder, but said the same investigation was not authorized into Good’s murder.
US government officials say ICE agents shot and killed Alex Pretti at a Minneapolis protest because he had a gun on him and, according to US President Donald Trump’s homeland security adviser Stephen Miller, ‘could have been a killer.’ Andrew Chang breaks down several video angles of the shooting, minute by minute, to understand how accurate the government’s first account is. Photos provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
The decision in Good’s case marked a major departure from previous administrations, which moved quickly to investigate the shootings of civilians by law enforcement officers on charges that could be civil crimes.
US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department’s human rights division does not investigate every law enforcement shooting and there must be circumstances and facts that “warrant an investigation.”
DHS said Tuesday that US Customs and Border Patrol is conducting its own internal investigation into Pretti’s case. On Good, DHS said the matter is still under investigation, but the videos show that Good obstructed the law and armed his vehicle, leading the officer to act in self-defense.
A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis amid the Trump administration’s latest crackdown, and now anger is burning over conflicting accounts of what really happened. Andrew Chang breaks down the video evidence moment by moment and compares it to the laws governing the use of force and self-defense. Photos provided by The Canadian Press, Reuters and Getty Images
The third shot at the charges
The Minnesota lawsuit also seeks access to evidence in a third case – that of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was shot and wounded in the right thigh by a federal agent in January.
Federal officials initially accused Sosa-Celis and another man of beating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel. But federal prosecutors later dropped all charges against the men, and authorities opened a criminal investigation into whether two immigration officials lied about the shooting.
Both officials are on administrative leave as ICE and DOJ conduct a joint review, DHS said Tuesday, adding in a statement that ICE is committed to transparency and accountability.
The Minnesota lawsuit said the federal government is not allowed to “withhold investigative evidence for the purpose of protecting law enforcement from scrutiny when a State is investigating a serious violation of its criminal laws, against its own citizens, within its borders.”
Moriarty said Tuesday that the federal government has “adopted a policy of withholding evidence,” calling the practice unprecedented and alarming. He said the case followed legal demands for evidence after the federal government blocked Minnesota investigators from obtaining evidence related to the shooting.
‘The state must have a chance to succeed’: law professor
Such lawsuits by states against the federal government are extremely rare, said Rachel Moran, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis.
That’s because local agencies rarely try to investigate potential crimes by federal officials, and because the federal government rarely refuses to cooperate.
“The state should have a chance to succeed because, what they are saying, is that they have the right to review evidence about a possible crime,” Moran said. “They not only have the right, but they have the responsibility to investigate whether the police have committed crimes in their area.”
Any outcome of the case could have significant implications for the power of the government and the country. If a federal judge approves the state’s request, Moran said, that provides legal support for state and local officials to investigate federal officials. If the federal government is allowed to withhold evidence, it could weaken state-to-state cooperation, he said.
