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A new question hangs over the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis. Here is the disconcerting question that, based on my survey of social media, quite a few Americans appear to be asking: Is this a case of premeditated murder?
New information, out in the past two days, suggests the answer might be yes. The first new info comes from a story published at CNN and Yahoo! News under the headline "Alex Pretti broke rib in confrontation with federal agents a week before death, sources say." Jeff Winter and Priscilla Alvarez write:
Federal immigration officers have been collecting personal information about protesters and agitators in Minneapolis, sources told CNN – and had documented details about Alex Pretti before he was shot to death on Saturday.
It is unclear how Pretti first came to the attention of federal authorities, but sources told CNN that about a week before his death, he suffered a broken rib when a group of federal officers tackled him while he was protesting their attempt to detain other individuals.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said that “DHS law enforcement has no record of this incident.”
Were DHS officials telling the truth with that one? Does anyone in the Donald Trump administration ever tell the truth, especially when it is in their interest to cover something up? Here is more from Winter and Alvarez:
A memo sent earlier this month to agents temporarily assigned to the city asked them to “capture all images, license plates, identifications, and general information on hotels, agitators, protestors, etc., so we can capture it all in one consolidated form,” according to correspondence reviewed by CNN.
Pretti’s previous encounter is another reflection of the aggressive approach federal agents are taking with observers and protesters – a philosophy underscored by the request for agents to collect information about protesters whose activities are broadly protected by the First Amendment.
Hmmm . . . the First Amendment sounds like a reference to the U.S. Constitution, the part we know as the Bill of Rights. Have Trump officials ever let the Bill of Rights keep them from doing whatever the hell they want? I've seen no signs of that happening yet. Now we learn that DHS is gathering information on protesters:
DHS has repeatedly warned of threats against federal law enforcement officers during immigration enforcement operations—and criticized protesters who they argue are impeding those operations. On Tuesday, the department also publicized an online tip form to share information about people allegedly harassing ICE officers.
“When our law enforcement encounter a violent agitator who is breaking the law, obstructing law enforcement or assaulting them, our law enforcement make records to advance prosecution. This is not ground breaking, it is standard protocol,” said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin in a statement.
So using a cell phone to film a public event now is considered "obstructing law enforcement" and can lead to prosecution? That probably would be news to quite a few Ivy League law professors. How did Pretti get crossways with Border Patrol scoundrels roughly one week before they killed him? The CNN/Yahoo! report has answers:
The earlier incident started when [Pretti] stopped his car after observing ICE agents chasing what he described as a family on foot, and began shouting and blowing his whistle, according to a source who asked not to be named out of fear of retribution.
Pretti later told the source that five agents tackled him and one leaned on his back – an encounter that left him with a broken rib. The agents quickly released him at the scene.
“That day, he thought he was going to die,” said the source.
Pretti was later given medication consistent with treating a broken rib, according to records reviewed by CNN.
Trump officials now seem obsessed with protesters and "agitators," even those they have beaten and injured, who likely have grounds to sue them:
Earlier this month, a DHS official in Minneapolis sent a memo to Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations officers assigned to the state on temporary duty asking them to use a form to input information on protesters and agitators.
The form — titled “intel collection non-arrests” — allows agents to fill in personal information of agitators and protesters who they encounter. It’s not clear whether other agencies in Minnesota are also using the form.
Previously, agents had informally shared information about protesters and agitators with each other, the memo said.
Pretti’s name was known to federal agents, according to a source – though it’s unclear whether the new intake form was used to share his information.
It’s also not clear whether the federal agents who encountered Pretti on Saturday recognized him before they confronted him – eventually wrestling him to the ground, taking a gun from his waistband and then fatally shooting him.
Some Trump officials have spoken publicly about the idea of creating a database of protesters, though it’s not clear what ICE has done with the information collected through the form circulated to agents in Minneapolis.
“One thing I’m pushing for right now … we’re going to create a database where those people that are arrested for interference, impeding and assault, we’re going to make them famous,” Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, told Fox News earlier this month. “We’re going to put their face on TV. We’re going to let their employers, in their neighborhoods, in their schools, know who these people are.”
On Sunday, a DHS spokeswoman denied the agency was compiling a database of “domestic terrorists” after a video in Maine showed a federal agent recording the license plate of a woman observing him during an operation and telling her, “We have a nice little database and now you are considered a domestic terrorist.”
McLaughlin told CNN about the Maine incident, “There is NO database of ‘domestic terrorists’ run by DHS. We do of course monitor and investigate and refer all threats, assaults and obstruction of our officers to the appropriate law enforcement. Obstructing and assaulting law enforcement is a felony and a federal crime.”
McLaughlin seems to have some clue about the actual relevant law, but that likely cannot be said for FBI Director Kash Patel. Consider this from CNN/Yahoo!:
In her statement to CNN on Tuesday, McLaughlin reiterated there is no DHS database.
Federal officials have made clear they are investigating anti-ICE activities they allege crossed the line into violence.
On Monday, FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency was investigating Signal group chats used by observers to share information about ICE activities, warning on a conservative podcast that people cannot “create a scenario that illegally entraps and puts law enforcement in harm’s way.”
On Tuesday, DHS announced it was launching an investigation into a U.S. citizen “who attempted to purchase a firearm on two separate occasions,” allegedly stated she wanted to “protect herself from ICE Agents, and also to kill ICE Agents.”
What is the problem with Patel's statement? It indicates he has no clue about the nature of entrapment. He suggests it would be a crime too entrap law enforcement. What's the reality? Consider this from the Law Offices of John F. Marshall, a New Jersey law firm:
You’ve probably heard of the term “entrapment” before, but you may not understand exactly what it means in the legal sense. Though you may presume that entrapment is an illegal act, it’s not a crime at all. That means that those who engage in it are not subject to prosecution or penalties.
Entrapment is an affirmative legal defense. In the most basic sense, it occurs when a government official, such as a police officer, uses threats, fraud, or harassment to induce or coerce someone to commit a crime they wouldn’t ordinarily commit. Defendants who can prove with a preponderance of the evidence that entrapment has occurred will likely be acquitted of the charges for which they are being tried.
In short, law-enforcement officers can engage in entrapment against others, and defendants can use that to get a not-guilty verdict. But it is not a legal wrong that can be committed against officers.
It is hard to imagine anyone being as wrong about a legal subject as Kash Patel is about entrapment. And he's head of the FBI! That's the kind of "expertise" you get with the Trump administration.
As for the question of premeditated murder in the Alex Pretti shooting, we will examine that issue in an upcoming post.
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