<\/p>\n
Department of Justice prosecutors across the US have suffered a string of embarrassing defeats in their aggressive pursuit of criminal cases against people accused of \u201cassaulting\u201d and \u201cimpeding\u201d federal officers.<\/p>\n
In recent months, the federal government has relentlessly prosecuted protesters, government critics, immigrants and others arrested during immigration operations, often accusing them of physically attacking officers or interfering with their duties.<\/p>\n
But many of those cases have recently been dismissed or ended in not guilty verdicts.<\/p>\n
In several high-profile cases, the prosecutions fell apart because they relied on statements by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officers that had no supporting evidence or in some instances were proven by video footage to be blatantly false.<\/p>\n
Criminal defense lawyers said it was unusual for federal prosecutors to pursue a high volume of charges over minor clashes with law enforcement, and that it was extraordinary to see the DoJ lose case after case across jurisdictions.<\/p>\n
Still, the costs for defendants, even if ultimately exonerated, have been enormous, with many having their mugshots blasted by the government and some forced to languish in jail or have criminal charges hang over them for weeks and months.<\/p>\n
The most recent significant fumble came from Minneapolis prosecutors, who last week dismissed felony assault charges<\/a> they had filed against two Venezuelan men accused<\/a> of \u201cviolently beating\u201d an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer \u201cwith weapons\u201d on 14 January.<\/p>\n In a press release issued after their arrest, the DHS had described the men as \u201cviolent criminal illegal aliens\u201d. The department said officers were conducting a targeted traffic stop to detain an undocumented man from Venezuela, and as he \u201cbegan to resist and violently assault the officer\u201d, two other men came out of a nearby apartment and \u201cattacked the law enforcement officer with a snow shovel and broom handle\u201d. The officer shot one of them in the leg.<\/p>\n Two of the men were arrested and charged, with a 16 January affidavit providing a vivid account of them attacking an officer identified as ERO 1, referring to ICE\u2019s enforcement and removal operations. But on 12 February, prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss both men\u2019s cases, saying: \u201cNewly discovered evidence in this matter is materially inconsistent with the allegations in the complaint affidavit.\u201d<\/p>\n The motion, which a judge granted, sought to have the cases dismissed \u201cwith prejudice\u201d, meaning the government could not re-file charges.<\/p>\n ICE director Todd Lyons said ICE and the DoJ had opened an investigation<\/a> into the case after videos revealed \u201csworn testimony provided by two separate officers appears to have made untruthful statements\u201d, marking a rare acknowledgement of possible wrongdoing by DHS officials.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is very unusual for the government to move to dismiss its own case with prejudice,\u201d Frederick Goetz, a lawyer for one of the men, said in an interview. He praised the government for launching investigations: \u201cIf you make false statements to a federal agent, that is a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n Goetz said there were other similar cases stemming from the DHS\u2019s \u201cOperation Metro Surge<\/a>\u201d in the Minneapolis-St Paul region: \u201cAnecdotally, you see a pattern: there are unreasonable uses of force by ICE agents and border patrol. You immediately have stories perpetuated to justify that force: \u2018The officer was being attacked. This was an ambush.\u2019 All of that spin is to cast the victims as violent perpetrators. Then the story falls apart once you get the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n