What Minnesota Can Do Now

"For many, one particular breakdown is a final, damning cause for despair: Minnesota's apparent inability to investigate and potentially prosecute the federal agents responsible. The Department of Homeland Security on Saturday reportedly blocked Minnesota officials from examining the scene of Alex Pretti's shooting. Access was refused even after state officials got a judicial search warrant. As a result, key forensic evidence was almost certainly lost. This comes after state officials were excluded from the investigation into Renee Good's death."

"Federal obstruction of Minnesota's criminal investigation merits more creative pushback from the state: Leaving investigations in the hands of DHS alone sends a powerful message to ICE officers. It tells them that even if they effectively execute a U.S. citizen who presents no threat on camera on a public street, they will face no consequences-a recipe for future tragedies. The state's interest in finding a way to at least create some deterrence to deadly federal lawlessness is not just a matter of justice:"

"This is not a completely novel situation. Criminality is often shielded by large organizations, and clever lawyers have come up with clever strategies for dealing with it. For example, in the early 20th century, prosecutors resorted to pretextual indictments to go after the mob-the tax-evasion case against Al Capone being the most famous such prosecution. Because prosecutors could not scrape together evidence of his core crimes, Capone was convicted first of contempt of court and then of tax evasion."

People have been brutalized, pepper-sprayed, and killed on Minneapolis streets. Minnesota officials were blocked by DHS from examining the scene of Alex Pretti's shooting, even after securing a judicial search warrant, likely causing loss of key forensic evidence. State officials were similarly excluded from the investigation into Renee Good's death. Federal obstruction of criminal investigations enables impunity and undermines public safety. The state must find creative legal work-arounds to create deterrence against deadly federal lawlessness. Historical examples such as pretextual indictments used to convict Al Capone show alternative prosecutorial strategies can succeed when direct evidence is unavailable.

Read at The Atlantic