Hennepin County attorney to demand Alex Pretti killing evidence from feds

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty says she will be sending a letter this week to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice to demand they turn over evidence in the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti by immigration officers in south Minneapolis.

Moriarty has already sent a letter with the same demands for the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Good, also in south Minneapolis, by ICE officer Jonathan Ross. Moriarty says the response deadline in that case is set for Tuesday.

Moriarty has been investigating those two cases — as well as the shooting of a Venezuelan national in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14 — without federal assistance.

In that non-fatal case, Homeland Security claims three undocumented men attacked a federal agent with a snow shovel and a broom, and that fearing for his life, the agent shot one of the men in the leg. 

The case against the three men has now been dismissed, and the acting director of ICE said two agents have been placed on leave and are being investigated for lying under oath after video evidence surfaced disputing their claims.

Moriarty says an evidence submission portal she created with the backing of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has been allowing the public to submit evidence including videos and eyewitness accounts.

DHS has argued Minnesota doesn’t have jurisdiction over federal agents because under the Constitution’s supremacy clause. Moriarty says that doesn’t apply if agents broke the law.

“I think evidence that is more compelling than having the gun or the shell casings is actually the autopsy reports on both [Good and Pretti],” Moriarty said. “Because for instance in [Renee Good’s case], that would tell us how many times she was shot, the angle, the direction of those shots and which shots were fatal.”

Moriarty is not seeking another term, and a new county attorney will be elected in November. She says that timeline is not an issue. And in the past, complicated cases involving law enforcement have moved swiftly in Hennepin County. For example, Derek Chauvin’s conviction in the George Floyd case came 11 months after the murder.

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