Indictments coming for federal agents in Minneapolis killings: expert

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner tells the Washington Monthly that there’s plenty of evidence to put before a grand jury regarding the Minneapolis killings.

“Despite the limited information available, the video is very damning. And the apparent cover-up by the feds cannot erase that video,” said Krasner, who was impeached by the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2021 over his progressive criminal justice policies and as a backlash to racial unrest following the murder of George Floyd. Krasner was soon re-elected with more than 70 percent of the vote.

“Any great prosecutor, which [Hennepin County Attorney] Mary Moriarty is, wants all the facts. I have no doubt she is trying hard to get all the facts. … But the outrage over what was done to Alex Pretti says a lot about what a jury would do,” Krasner said.

Krasner added that he would not hesitate to bring charges were he in Moriarty’s position, with access to the same evidence Moriarty has. Moreover, he said Moriarty has nothing to fear in bringing charges against federal officials for their role in the shooting death of two Minneapolis residents.

“[Moriarty] has been maligned, abused, and mistreated by the right, and she’s not running again,” said Krasner. “Not running again is often good news when you want a prosecutor who’s going to do something difficult, because politics enter into it less. … There is enough information in the publicly available video to establish probable cause, bring the case, and present it to a jury.”

Unique in this prosecutorial situation, however, is the fact that the federal government is a hostile party to the indictment, despite federal actions overwhelmingly playing a part in the death of its own citizens. Prosecutors rarely have to ask how hard it will be to get a writ of mandamus from a court order compelling DHS to turn over evidence.

“One of the challenges here is that this is relatively uncharted territory,” said Krasner. “Usually, the federal government reins in unruly local law enforcement. Here, the script is flipped. There isn’t a lot of precedent, and it will matter a great deal which judge is assigned.”

But Krasner said it likely won’t be hard to find a fair judge in Minnesota who’s not trying to cover the federal government’s backside. Helping matters is the Tenth Amendment, which projects a strong state interest in prosecuting crimes that occur within a state’s jurisdiction.

But expect the federal government to lie, and lie a lot, warned Krasner.

“We’ve already seen one lie after another from federal authorities. Even Trump stated that this federal officer was ‘rammed’ by a vehicle. That appears to be false,” said Krasner. “There’s a real possibility that if you dig into the paperwork, you’ll find ICE agents or officials lying. Those are crimes under state law in almost every jurisdiction. You can’t lie to the police, even if you are the police. You can’t lie to law enforcement.”

That brings up the inevitable possibility of an additional set of charges and criminal liability for hiding information. And despite the administration’s claims, qualified immunity is not a thing.

Another tidbit of information: Any convictions arising of this particular prosecution qualify as state crimes.

“The president cannot pardon state crimes,” Krasner said.

Read the Washington Monthly report at this link.

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