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JD Vance: 'Renee Good's death is a tragedy'
Vice President JD Vance spoke Thursday in Minneapolis about the January 7 death of Renee Good after an interaction with ICE agents. He called her death a multi-layered tragedy. He thinks Good tried to ram an agent with her car, and the tragedy was a misunderstanding that cost Good her life.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has submitted formal requests for evidence from federal authorities in the shooting of Renee Good at the hands of ICE officer Jonathan Ross.
Evidence request sent
What we know:
Moriarty's office sent what is known as "Touhy request" letters to the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security seeking physical evidence, including firearms and casings, video and photographic evidence, medical records, department policies, and names of all federal agents involved, and statements from federal agents.
The backstory:
Last week, Moriarty said she anticipated gathering enough evidence to make charging decisions in the shootings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti, and the Venezuelan man shot in the leg by an ICE officer on Jan. 14.
Local authorities have fought to maintain their investigations without cooperation from federal authorities. The Department of Homeland Security and FBI have launched their own review of the Good and Pretti shootings and, last week, the Department of Justice announced it had opened a civil rights review into Pretti's killing. However, on Monday, a judge lifted a restraining order requiring federal authorities to preserve evidence in the Pretti shooting, finding it was no longer needed.
What they're saying:
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office gave federal authorities a deadline of Feb. 17 to respond to the Touhy request.
"I expect the federal government to provide the requested information, documents and physical items to our office," Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said in a provided statement. "The federal government has been clear that they are not conducting an investigation into Renee Good’s death. But we are. We require these records as part of our ongoing thorough investigation into her death at the hands of a federal agent, Jonathan Ross."
"It’s unprecedented that the County Attorney's Office is sending these letters at all. Federal investigators should already be cooperating with state investigators in a joint investigation into Renee Good’s shooting death at the hands of federal agents," Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said. "The County Attorney's Office is sending these letters because the federal government continues not to do so. My office and I will keep working with the HCAO to do everything in our power to support state investigators’ efforts to conduct a complete, transparent, and impartial investigation."
In context:
It should be noted that even if Hennepin County were to bring a case against Ross, it's unlikely they would be able to get a conviction due to supremacy clause protections.
The clause protects federal officers from state charges for acts committed during the course of their official duties. To bring a successful case against a federal officer, local prosecutors would have to prove the officer wasn't acting in his official capacity when he committed the crime.
Ross could still face federal charges, but that seems unlikely as Trump administration officials have consistently defended his actions, saying Ross acted in self-defense.