Federal prosecutors have moved to drop criminal charges against two Venezuelan men whose highly publicized arrests in north Minneapolis last month have been disputed after conflicting accounts emerged from Homeland Security officials and defense attorneys.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Feb. 12 that “newly discovered evidence” in the case against Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna is “materially inconsistent” with the allegations initially brought against them in a criminal complaint.
Frederick Goetz, Aljorna’s attorney, called the request to drop the charges with prejudice − meaning prosecutors can’t refile the same case −“exceedingly rare” and commended the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Jan. 14 incident began with an attempted traffic stop on Interstate 94 that ended with an unidentified U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shooting Sosa-Celis, who was not involved in the traffic stop and appeared to have been involved as a case of mistaken identity.
The moments leading up to his and Aljorna’s arrests have been weighed in court as different accounts emerged between the men’s families, lawyers and the Department of Homeland Security, which insisted the agent fired a defensive shot that struck Sosa-Celis while being attacked with a snow shovel and broom outside a north Minneapolis residence. Sosa-Celis was not the original target of enforcement action.
In a statement to the Minnesota Star Tribune on Thursday, Brian Clark, an attorney representing Sosa-Celis, said the family is “overjoyed.”
“The charges against them were based on lies by an ICE agent who recklessly shot into their home through a closed door. They are so happy justice is being served by the government’s request to dismiss all charges with prejudice,” the statement said.
Clark called for the identity of the ICE agent involved to be released, as well as criminal charges.
