Judge hears arguments over whether federal government will preserve evidence in Pretti killing

Attorneys argued Monday in U.S. District Court in St. Paul over whether the state of Minnesota can trust the federal government to preserve and maintain evidence from the shooting death of Alex Pretti.

The court had granted the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office a temporary restraining order Saturday night against several entities, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Border Patrol Cmdr. Greg Bovino, the Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Investigations.

Judge Eric Tostrud took the issue under advisement at the end of Monday’s hearing and promised a swift resolution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Friedrich Siekert, representing the Justice Department, said the court did not need to get involved in the investigation. Evidence preservation was being handled normally, he said, and the state has no jurisdiction to control a federal investigation into “federal officers doing their federal duty.”

Siekert didn’t say the federal government was considering criminal charges against any officer involved in the shooting. He said the agencies are following standard evidence-collection protocols as they conduct internal investigations over the use of deadly force. Those collection procedures would extend to any potential federal criminal charges against any officer, he added.

After the federal investigation is done, Siekert said, “that evidence would be available to the state and to the public.”

Deputy Solicitor General Peter Farrell argued on behalf of the BCA while Clare Diegel handled arguments for the county attorney’s office.

Siekert can claim the federal government is following standard procedure, Farrell said, but “there has been a lot of unprecedented action by the federal government here in Minnesota over the last several weeks.”

Farrell said that the BCA did not bring a lawsuit against the federal government “on a whim” over the shooting death of Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse at the Minneapolis VA who was killed while documenting the detention of an immigrant Saturday.

He pointed to breaks from norms between federal and state law enforcement, including:

Farrell said the entire situation gives state law enforcement “serious pause about the integrity of evidence collected at the scene in general.”

Diegel argued that nothing about the situation in Minneapolis is normal now because state agencies “have not had the cooperation of the federal government,” even after two Minnesota residents have been killed by federal agents on the streets.

Tostrud maintained a neutral position throughout the hearing. At one point, he prodded Siekert’s accusation that the only reason the state was bringing this motion was because of politics.

“I’ll take the bait,” Tostrud said. “What’s the political dispute?”

Siekert gently pointed to the battle being waged between the state and federal government as Operation Metro Surge continues throughout Minnesota. He spoke of sanctuary cities, the unfortunate death of Pretti and the need for the courts to even be involved in determining how investigative materials are preserved and maintained.