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.
What factors forced you to support double prosecution now? Because charges are against someone you don’t like?
The unprecedented lack of accountability on the part of the Federal government. To wit: Trump’s rampant misuse of the presidential pardon power.
We have seen the reverse from time to time: State courts failing to hold white defendants accountable for crimes against black victims. At that time, federal prosecutors were able to step in with their own prosecutions.
Ideally, both governments should be trustworthy and accountable, and justice could be achieved in either court in any case. Here, with the defendant being an agent of the federal government and the federal government behaving so egregiously, their position cannot be trusted.