Prosecutor drops bad news for Bondi amid ICE shooting - Brian Tyler Cohen

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Legal Breakdown episode 658: Ex-prosecutor on Bondi being an “accessory after the fact” with ICE shooting.

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BTC: You're watching the Legal Breakdown.

Glenn, we are just one day out from yet another ICE shooting. This time a 37 year-old uh nurse who worked at the VA. It looks like already DHS and ICE are doing whatever they have to do to make sure that the ICE agent responsible for perpetuating this crime isn't held to account. They have blocked state investigators from gaining access to the scene and they told state investigators that DHS was the only entity that was going to be responsible for investigating any of this.

So, it looks like the fix is in. Is there anything that the state could do or anything any other prosecutors could do to hold any rogue ICE agents to account for committing these crimes wide out in the open?

GK: Yeah, the answer is yes, Brian. I think state law enforcement authorities are obligated to make sure that they investigate this unlawful shooting. We can talk about why in my estimation as a former career prosecutor with 22 of my 30 years being in the homicide practice in Washington DC including being part of teams that investigated excessive force by police officers resulting in death. We'll talk about why I view this as an unlawful killing based on the available evidence.

But the state law enforcement authorities, Brian, can see the same videos that we are seeing. They can easily reach a determination that this was an unlawful killing. Hell, it looked like an execution to me and they are responsible for enforcing the laws of the state of Minnesota. I'm not looking to beat up on local law enforcement or Minnesota state politicians, but at what point do you step up to not only protect the citizens of your state, but to hold accountable those who would violate state law? I don't care if you've got, you know, a badge on your chest and a gun on your hip from another jurisdiction, local, state, county, federal. I don't care if you commit a crime. State law enforcement officials need to step up.

But even beyond that, Brian, the more I listen to the abject propaganda that is instantly spewed out by federal government officials, my mind immediately goes to a crime called accessory after the fact. Let me give our viewers just a quick summary of what that crime looks like.

If you know someone has committed a felony and with the intent to help them avoid detection, arrest, trial, or punishment, you assist them in any way, guess what? You've committed the felony crime of accessory after the fact and by the Kristi Noems and the Donald Trumps and when it comes to the Renee Good homicide, the JD Vances and others rushing to the cameras and the microphones before an investigation has even commenced, and announcing that these people did nothing wrong, and that the victims needed a good killing because they were domestic terrorists, which of course they weren't--that I believe allows for a criminal investigation into the crime of accessory after the fact.

Why? Because you're trying to assist these federal agents, these rogue ICE officers, avoid quote detention, arrest, trial, or punishment, accountability for their crimes. So, there's a lot to dislike here and so much of it appears to be illegal. Not just a bad criminal shooting, but a cover up and providing assistance to try to help the perpetrators avoid punishment.

BTC: So, I want to dig into that a little bit because I think that's extraordinarily interesting and I'm sure the viewers do as well, this prospect that Kristi Noem and Kash Patel and Donald Trump shoulder some legal exposure by virtue of serving as accessories after the fact. First, just a quick note for folks who are watching right now. If you'd like to support our work and stay on top of other legal news as it breaks, the best way to do that is to subscribe to both of our channels. I'm going to put the links in the post description of this video.

So Glenn, recognizing that it's virtually impossible that we're going to see Kristi Noem, Kash Patel, Trump held to account for serving as accessories after the fact while they're in office, while they control the federal government. Is this something that that we would want to preserve or that prosecutors would want to preserve for after they're already out of office? And then the follow-up to that is what is the statute of limitations for something like that?

GK: Yeah, typically it's going to be a 5-year statute of limitations so assuming a change over in presidential administration after the next presidential election, you know, it would still be within the statute of limitations.

But Brian, even, you know, before we get there, I think the state law enforcement authorities, both the investigators and the prosecutors and the state attorney general, Keith Ellison, you know, need to make sure that they are holding wrongdoers in their state accountable. not only the gunman, but the people who are helping the gunman get away with these crimes.

You know, accessory after the fact can certainly look like hiding somebody out in your basement to try to help them avoid um detection, arrest, trial, or punishment. But it can also look like spewing propaganda about how they did nothing wrong. Therefore, they shouldn't be and won't be investigated and held accountable for what we can all see with our own eyes appears to be criminal. That is just a different variation on the accessory after the fact theme.

BTC: All right, Glenn, I want to dig into the fact that you have a wealth of experience to draw from here. So judging from what you've seen on the videos, of which there are multiple angles at this point, what can you tell us about the culpability of the ICE agent or the culpability of the victim here who was shot and killed by ICE?

GK: So based on the videos that I've seen and I will always qualify any of my remarks and certainly my tentative conclusions with the whole reason we have a full investigation is so we don't rush to judgment in a court of law. Obviously when we're analyzing what we see we can make responsible judgments and conclusions based on what we're seeing.

But you know, you need to interview everybody who was on that scene. You need to interview every one of the officers in the event they choose not to invoke their fifth amendment right against self-incrimination, which I suspect they would. You know, you need to get all radio communications from the police department, EMS, the fire department. You need to have the autopsy results before you can reach a def definitive conclusion that this is something that should be presented to a Minnesota state grand jury for possible criminal indictment.

However, with that long preamble of caveats, what I see is that this 37 year-old ICU nurse who works at the VA, the Veterans Administration, basically administering to people who are sick, who are injured, who are unhealthy, serving our nation's veterans. This is somebody who reportedly had a concealed carry permit as do millions and millions of people around this country trying to be responsible gun owners.

This is 37 year-old Alex Pretti. What I see on the video, Brian, is Alex Pretti is doing nothing menacing. He is doing nothing that would put any officer or anybody else for that matter in you know a in fear of an imminent risk of death or serious bodily injury. He's simply holding up his cell phone recording as well. We all have a right to and in fact in today's environment we have a need and even a responsibility to recording what's going on. And I believe one of the camera angles shows a woman who gets knocked to the ground. He reportedly goes over to render her some assistance.

But what you then see in full color is an ICE officer approaching him, bumping him up, chest to chest, pushing him back when he's wielding nothing more than a cell phone. And then it's on. Then you have a number of ICE agents who either throw him to the ground or jump on him. Once he's on the ground, you can see in slow motion, you posted a video of this earlier today. You can see one of the officers removing from either a holster or perhaps from his belt his weapon that he seems to be lawfully in possession of given the reporting. Yeah. And moving away with it. And then you and he is face down on the ground with multiple I don't know if it's four or five or six at that point grown ass men who can easily control him. He is posing no threat to a fly at that point and they execute him.

I use that word advisedly Brian, they kill him. That's a homicide. Mind you, you know, as a career homicide prosecutor, the word homicide doesn't connote criminality. Homicide is merely death at the hands of another. But what does connote criminality is shooting an unarmed man who is posing no risk to anyone. That is either murder or manslaughter, which is a lesser degree of murder and there are degrees of murder, degrees of manslaughter.

It's an execution in layman's terms. That's not being hyperbolic. They executed this unarmed man when he was not only defenseless, but he was easily controlled by multiple ICE officers. This makes the federal prosecutor in me--it makes my blood boil. Not only because of what they did to him and what his family and his community will now suffer, but the fact that they're lying about it, trying to cover up, they're being accessories after the fact, you know, we don't have a legitimate Department of Justice anymore. It is now up to the state law enforcement authorities and they have got to step up and act.

BTC: Glenn, I'm going to ask you a question that I don't think you can answer, but I'd be curious to know what your thoughts are on it and this kind of lends itself to the first question that I asked when we first started, but what degree of confidence do you have that we're actually going to see some justice for Alex Pretti, the victim at the hands of ICE? And I asked that because very much like was what was the situation with Renee Good, we've seen all the Trump administration officials immediately rush to pre-clear the ICE agent, already call Pretti a domestic terrorist, already lie about this idea that he was charging the ICE agents--that's dead wrong, he was actually being charged by the ICE agents. This idea that he was brandishing a firearm, that's wrong-- he was holding a phone and in fact, when the first shot rang out, he was already disarmed by a different ICE agent.

So, all of that notwithstanding, I'm just curious what degree of confidence you have that we are going to see some justice here?

GK: You know, justice can be an elusive term and an elusive pursuit. I don't know that there can be anything that approximates justice for what we just saw them do to Alex Pretti, his family, his community, the state of Minnesota, the American people writ large. But as close as we can come is accountability for everyone who is culpably involved--from those ICE agents who unloaded their weapons, you know, shooting an unarmed, defenseless man, to the people who are lying in our federal government and trying to cover up those crimes, trying to make sure that there is no accountability for the gunman.

You know, I have some confidence in Attorney General Keith Ellison and the Hennepin County Prosecutor Mary Moriarty who has been very vocal and forward leaning in, you know, fighting for accountability for what was done to Renee Good. I have every confidence that she will be just as aggressive, appropriately so, and forward leaning now fighting for justice or accountability for what was just done to Alex Pretti so, I have some hope. I am not wildly confident because, you know, given that we have a runaway corrupt Department of Justice, they can do a lot of beyond mischief, a lot of damage to a state that is pursuing justice for what was done to one of their own residents, what was done within the borders of their state, as we are now seeing in the Renee Good case.

But, you know, I don't think District Attorney Moriarty or Attorney General Ellison are the kind of folks who are going to back down just because they're being bullied or attempted to be bullied by Donald Trump and Pam Bondi and company. I mean, this is when states rights is at its zenith and they have every right and responsibility to police and prosecute what goes on in their state that is criminal. and this looks criminal.

BTC: Perfectly put, seems like the best place to leave off. Again, for those who are watching, Glenn and I are going to continue covering this issue and all other legal breaking news. So, if you want to follow along and support our work and support independent media, the best way to do that is to subscribe to both of our channels. I'm going to put those links right here on the screen and also in the post description of this video. It's 100% free to sign up, 100% free to watch our videos, and again, a great way to support our work. I'm Brian Tyler Cohen…

GK: …and I'm Glenn Kirschner.

BTC: You're watching the Legal Breakdown.