Minnesota Could Prosecute the ICE Shooter. Trump Can’t Pardon Him.
slate.com
Shortly after an ICE officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, city leaders began looking into whether the officer had violated state criminal law.

Shortly after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday, city leaders began looking into whether the officer had violated state criminal law.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, “We collectively are going to do everything possible to get to the bottom of this, to get justice, and to make sure that there is an investigation that is conducted in full.” Police Chief Brian O’Hara followed up by saying that the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension is “investigat[ing] whether any state laws within the state of Minnesota have been violated.”

If they conclude that state law has been violated, the question is: What next? Contrary to recent assertions from some federal officials, states can prosecute federal officers for violating state criminal laws, and there is precedent for that.

  • myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip
    21·
    7 days ago

    Could. But they won’t. And if they do, Trump will pardon him. I mean, he can’t. But he will. And no one will stop him.

  • Carmakazi@piefed.socialEnglish
    65·
    8 days ago

    Even in the bizarro world where an arrest warrant or indictment is issued, ICE will close ranks around their brother who just got a notch on his belt. No state cops are gonna slug it out with the feds to make that arrest.

    • mushroommunk@lemmy.today
      58·
      8 days ago

      Although you’re probably right, part of me really hopes that’s why Walz put the national guard on standby

      • Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        45·
        8 days ago

        That’s the stated reason that Walz put the national guard on standby. He said he put them on standby and that he wants ice out of our state; the implication there being that ice can leave on their own or be escorted out. He’s not running for reelection so he has no reason to hold back anymore. I have never seen him quite that clipped in a press release before. He is furious. We may have ice being forcibly deported by the MN national guard shortly here and that is going to get very interesting in a lot of ways

        • Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.caEnglish
          161·
          8 days ago

          I watched his speech and he doesn’t actually say that he is putting them on standby to defend against ICE. Reading between the lines, he seems to be putting them on standby to be ready to quell protest so that Trump can’t use the protests as an excuse to put federal troops in the area.

          • Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            20·
            8 days ago

            What I got from the speech is the following in fairly quick sucession.

            1. We won’t have minnesotans fighting minnesotans.
            2. The minnesota national guard are minnesotans; they are your friends and neighbors.
            3. The minnesota national guard has been put on standby.
            4. Ice is not wanted in minnesota and they need to leave.

            The fact that points 1 and 2 were said right next to each other says to me at least that the national guard isn’t there for the protesters.

            • Zamboni_Driver@lemmy.caEnglish
              4·
              8 days ago

              What made me think that is that he rattles off a whole list of state agencies that were being activated to deal with the incident, and the. His next words are we do not need help from the federal government.

              Quell the protest was probably the wrong wording. But I think that the national guard is being used to ensure that the protests are controlled and don’t escalate or turn to violence which would give the federal government an excuse to send troops…

              • Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                4·
                8 days ago

                A lot of those same agencies are also the same agencies you’d activate if you were getting ready to boot out ice too though. I guess only time will tell exactly what is going to happen. But Walz did seem like he regretted and learned from his response to the George Floyd protests. It seems likely to me that he may swing the other way this time.

        • 14th_cylon@lemmy.zip
          14·
          8 days ago

          He’s not running for reelection so he has no reason to hold back anymore.

          i am not even an american, but i’d really like to live in a world where running for reelection would be the reason not to hold back.

          • Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            10·
            8 days ago

            Yeah, running for office they need to seem bland enough to appeal to the most people. It’s kind of a shitty system when you only see their true colors after they are done campaigning. Although, Walz at least has always been pretty transparent in that regard. He’s always just been a small town highschool coach. He’s not a political creature.

            I wish we could keep him in office. But in a way I am also glad he’s getting out of politics because especially these past several years it has been clear how hard the job is on him. Him getting out of politics is going to be bad for us but good for him because he is a good person. Asking him to run again would feel like kicking a puppy. He’s the only politician where I’ve ever felt like I needed to apologize to them for voting for them.

        • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
          5·
          8 days ago

          Hey just gonna point out that the civil war nearly started some years early due to slave hunters kidnapping folks in Northern states. The only reason that didn’t happen was largely due to luck and folks taking matters into their own hands to off slave hunters. I say this to make the point that this whole situation with ICE ain’t that far off.

  • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.caEnglish
    532·
    7 days ago

    Yeah sure.

    How many National Guard went to jail for the Kent State massacre?

    Zero. Four murdered, maimed.

  • D_C@sh.itjust.works
    50·
    8 days ago

    Could means fuck all. The word that needs to be used is will.
    “Minnesota WILL prosecute the ice shooter.”
    When that is the title of an article then it means something. Until then it’s all may, might, and could. Weak shit.

    The Gestapo is murdering people on the street. Public executions on the streets of the Nazied States of America.

  • OshagHennessey@lemmy.world
    4110·
    7 days ago

    They could. But they won’t. That would be more than just token resistance. Everybody knows the Dems are paid by corporations to only resist with words, motions, committees, and meaningless votes.

    If we want accountability, we’re going to have to demand it, like after George Floyd.

    Only once it becomes cheaper to appease us than resist us, will we be appeased.

  • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
    29·
    7 days ago

    Look what it took to get Chauvin prosecuted. If we want pigs to face justice, we have to speak at a volume they can hear us in their mansions.

    • Cruel@programming.dev
      132·
      7 days ago

      Chauvin wasn’t assaulted with what’s legally considered a dangerous weapon. So this case would be much harder. Unprecedented, really.

      • garretble@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        7 days ago

        By the logic the government has tried to push on this murder, people should be able to shoot into the vehicles of ICE thugs when they try to drive through protest crowds. We’ve seen that on video plenty of times in the last year.

      • AnarchistArtificer@slrpnk.netEnglish
        3·
        7 days ago

        I hope that you never find yourself opposite an asshole cop who doesn’t care whether you actually pose any danger to them.

      • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        7 days ago

        Not an american but seems like US’ case law is very much precedented here. I don’t have a source at hand but there has been at least a dozen similar cases all sided with the victims. Even official training of ICE explicitly says “do not stand in front of the vehicle ever”.

        If there’s no justice here then it’s entirely on lack of will rather than law.

        • Cruel@programming.dev
          01·
          6 days ago

          Every case people cite are civil lawsuits for excessive force. And people usually don’t prevail, especially when an officer is actually in the process of being assaulted.

          At most, her family could get a settlement for damages for excessive force. But criminal charges are what would be pretty unprecedented.

          • Dr. Moose@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2·
            6 days ago

            I think it’s moot to discuss this without bringing up the actual law cases and I’m not going to lie - I’m a bit too lazy and this is too depressing for me to sacrifice my time for.

            My faith in US’ justice system is not great though so you might very well be right.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        23·
        7 days ago

        Chauvin wasn’t assaulted

        That’s not what he claimed at the time. A big part of every cop-killer story is the allegation that the person they murdered prompted the killing. Chauvin insisted through his entire defense that Floyd lashed out at him in his final moments, right before he spontaneously died of a drug induced heart attack.

        We’ve got video clear as day of the ICE agent casually walking up to the car and plugging the woman in the face. This was a mother who’d just dropped her child off at daycare, not some marauding vehicular anti-ICE assassin. She was given seconds to respond to a command and butchered for failing to act fast enough.

  • sexy_peach@feddit.orgEnglish
    261·
    7 days ago

    “Should”. Whatever this is just an article nothing is going to happen. Also I don’t really think prosecuting one officer is enough

    • ameancow@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      7 days ago

      The FBI is taking over the case and as such MN state prosecutors cannot access any evidence. I don’t know if they can prosecute a case based on just the videos taken from bystanders, but typically there’s a lot more to a legal case.

      If the FBI takes over the investigation it will land on the desks of podcasters and grifters who have already gone all-in to protect their bosses from being investigated for raping children, so I don’t think we’re going to see anything satisfying happen here.

      I don’t know how many innocent people have to die or what skin color they need to have before people will broadly start to seriously think about regime change on our terms.

    • ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works
      7·
      7 days ago

      “Should” typically means “must” in the legal sense.

      But also consider that getting ICE to leave their agent out to dry would would go a ways in breaking their sense of invulnerability. Same dynamic as getting a police union to dump a cop in the courts.

      • LogicalFallacy@lemmy.zip
        1312·
        7 days ago

        That’s why the mayor and government should arrest first and ask questions later. The guy is clearly a flight risk, armed, and dangerous. Likely has a criminal record as well.