Only Minnesota can bring justice for Alex Pretti and Renee Good now 

It has been seven weeks since the killing of Alex Pretti, and state officials are at a loss as to how to proceed. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty can’t get the federal government to cooperate with her investigation. Denied access to crime scenes and kicked off joint investigations, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension — the state agency which would normally investigate police shootings — is apparently stymied. 

We are used to seeing comically thorough investigations of police shootings. In a typical investigation, the crime scene is instantly preserved and subjected to a meticulous forensic examination. There is never any doubt who was involved, and the suspects themselves will participate in the investigation, at least initially. The investigation is conducted rigorously and without bias.

In the vast majority of these incidents, there is never any question what happened. The only questions are about why it happened and whether the officer behaved reasonably under the circumstances.

We’re not going to get that in the Renee Good and Alex Pretti shootings.  

Kristi Noem’s ridiculous insistence that the victims in both cases were “domestic terrorists” makes a credible federal investigation impossible. That’s assuming that the federal government and the Department of Homeland Security have any interest in conducting a proper investigation, which they do not appear to. Multiple members of the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s Office have already resigned in protest.

In the wake of the widespread shock and anger over the Pretti shooting, the White House claimed it had launched three separate investigations. But that ship sailed when federal officials insisted that Pretti was “brandishing” a gun, and congratulated Pretti’s shooter for “taking him down” because Pretti was on the scene planning to “massacre law enforcement.” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem (now fired from her Cabinet role) and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino (demoted within the Border Patrol) even insisted that the Border Patrol agents who shot Pretti had done nothing wrong, and were actually Pretti’s “victims.”

In short, no one will now believe any federal investigation has been conducted fairly, especially if it exonerates those involved. That’s as much a shame for the officers themselves as it is for the country. 

So if there are going to be credible investigations in these cases, they are going to have to be conducted by state prosecutors, and they are going to have to do it without federal cooperation and without any of the evidence that is typically available in an officer-involved shooting. 

But what if this were a gang shooting instead? 

In a typical murder investigation, prosecutors virtually never have the quality and quantity of evidence they have available in a police shooting. In some cases, they won’t have a murder scene, or even a body. And yet, somehow, they are able to conduct successful investigations, arraign suspects, and convict them by producing evidence that proves their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. 

In both the Renee Good and Alex Pretti shootings, state prosecutors already have the testimony of multiple eyewitnesses and corroborating video available. Body camera footage and cooperation from the federal government would be nice, but it’s hardly necessary. The evidence that’s already available documents the entire incident, from the minutes leading up to the shooting all the way through the aftermath. For a typical murder prosecution, this a wealth of evidence beyond the dreams of avarice. If Pretti had been shot by gang members instead of by Border Patrol agents, there would have been no hand-wringing, and no lengthy investigation. The suspects would have been under arrest and facing charges within hours. 

This is not to say that a prosecution will be easy or that there are no difficult issues to be resolved. But these issues are legal issues — like whether supremacy clause immunity will apply — not factual. They won’t be resolved by investigation, they’ll be resolved by litigation. The sooner that process starts, the better.    

There is a reason the Constitution includes the Tenth Amendment. States are not appendages of the federal government. They are sovereigns in their own right, with their own powers and duties.

Two of Minnesota’s citizens have been gunned down in the street. If the federal government cannot or will not do them justice, Minnesota must step in. 

So assemble your grand jury, County Attorney Moriarty. Complete your investigation, with or without help from the Department of Justice, and make those officers answer for their actions before a Minnesota jury if you find that charges are warranted. If Pam Bondi eventually decides to follow your lead, that is for her to decide. But do not hesitate. Never seek permission to seek justice.

Chris Truax is an appellate lawyer in San Diego.

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