Yesterday, following the fatal shooting of Renee Good, 37, in South Minneapolis by an agent from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a preliminary decision had been made by authorities to conduct a joint investigation involving Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and agents from the Force Investigations Unit of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA).
As noted in our article yesterday, federal law gives federal authorities sole jurisdiction to investigate and to make use of force evaluations involving the actions of federal agents. It appears like the federal government will be exercising that prerogative in this case.
Earlier this morning the Superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension issued a statement saying that the FBI and the US Attorney’s Office had decided the investigation would be led solely by the FBI, and that the BCA would not be given access to the case material. The BCA assessed it would no longer be able to meet the investigative standards needed to continue their involvement.
I sense that the decision to pull the investigation completely under federal oversight has nothing to do with quality of work established by the BCA’s Force Investigations Unit. That unit has demonstrated itself to be the gold standard in investigating use of force incidents.
Instead, it likely has everything to do with the earned distrust of political forces in Minnesota that have shown their lack of impartiality in this case and others like it in the past.
The federal government rightfully has decided against subjecting this investigation (and the impartiality the agent deserves) to the circus like atmosphere that has been created in recent officer involved shootings (OIS) in Minnesota. Political leadership including Governor Walz, Attorney General Ellison, Hennepin County Attorney Moriarty, Minneapolis Mayor Frey, and US Senator Klobuchar have no one to blame but themselves.
First, they have demonized and undermined the mission of ICE in Minnesota. They have repeatedly refused to cooperate with ICE and have supported practices and policies that prevent state and local authorities from working or sharing information with ICE. Minneapolis has gone to the extent of banning ICE from using city owned parking lots or other property to stage. Their anti-ICE rhetoric has encouraged organized activists to harass and obstruct ICE in the field daily over the past month. It is particularly rich to hear many of them now complain that ICE is refusing to “coordinate” with them as they carry out their immigration enforcement.
Second, based largely on the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office’s handling of OIS’s in recent years, a massive amount of trust has been lost in how that office would handle information and the decision-making process involving such a politically sensitive incident as yesterday’s OIS.
Minnesotan’s who have paid attention to this problem are reminded of Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s question of a former Assistant Hennepin County Attorney in the George Floyd case; “… what happens when the actual evidence doesn’t match up with the public narrative that everyone’s already decided on…this is the type of case that ends careers.” Or, they may recall Mary Moriarty’s discredited handling of the politically charged OIS involving Minnesota State Trooper Londregan. Both cases exemplify how politics has inappropriately played a role in OIS prosecutions in Hennepin County in recent years.
Third, many of these local leaders have made statements or posted information that have once again served to inappropriately prejudice the local atmosphere around this case.
Here is US Senator Klobuchar’s Facebook post made the day of the ICE shooting, highlighting a flyer declaring that Good was “murdered.”
The morning of the OIS, Governor Walz held a press conference, in which he made a number of inappropriate statements to prejudice the case.
“We will stop at nothing to ensure accountability.”
“It was totally avoidable. So preventable, so unnecessary.”
“Someone is dead, in their car, for no reason whatsoever.”
“I said, if they do this, they are going to create a chaotic situation where someone innocent gets killed, and they did it.”
And in reference to potentially activating the National Guard, the Governor gave several examples of why he might do that, including:
“…in this case if it is a rogue federal agent.”
Then this morning, the Governor held another press conference in which he claimed he was not using inflammatory language, only to go on to say:
“Kristi Noem was judge, jury, and executioner.”
Minnesota was under “relentless assault” by our federal government.
It would be “very, very difficult that we will get a fair outcome” now that the FBI had asserted sole jurisdiction over the investigation.
Attorney General Ellison posted this statement, further demonizing ICE, and making his opinions about the shooting clear:
The Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA) weighed in on the many inappropriate comments coming from Minnesota’s politicians, and hit the nail on the head by calling for an end to the “inflammatory language, and to respect the legal and investigatory process.”
The statements make one wonder if Minnesota’s political leaders are truly blind to the prejudice that they create, and the prejudice that has become so commonplace in Minnesota surrounding OIS incidents.
Kudos to the Justice Department for not playing along.
