Protection attorneys for a Minnesota man convicted in December of assaulting Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross are searching for entry to investigative information associated to the killing of Renee Nicole Good, after studying Ross was the identical officer who shot and killed her throughout a focused operation in Minneapolis final month.
Attorneys for Roberto Carlos Muñoz-Guatemala requested a federal choose on Friday to order prosecutors to flip over coaching data in addition to investigative information associated to Ross, the ICE agent who killed Good on January 7 throughout Operation Metro Surge and was additionally injured in a June 2025 incident by which Muñoz-Guatemala dragged him along with his automobile.
A separate post-trial movement by the protection, filed in the US District Court docket in Minnesota, asks the choose to pause deadlines for a new-trial movement till the discovery movement is resolved.
Muñoz-Guatemala’s attorneys argue that even when the courtroom in the end decides that any newly found proof doesn’t entitle their consumer to a brand new trial, he’s entitled to discover whether or not there are mitigating components that might influence the size of his sentence, equivalent to whether or not Ross’ accidents might have been, to a point, introduced upon him by his personal habits.
A jury convicted Muñoz-Guatemala on December 10 of assault on a federal officer with a harmful weapon and inflicting bodily damage.
Court docket filings say that Ross and different brokers had been making an attempt to interview Muñoz-Guatemala final summer time, and probably course of him for deportation, as a result of he had an administrative warrant out for being in the nation with out authorization. They surrounded his Nissan Altima and tried to take away him from the automobile. Ross then used a software to shatter the rear driver’s-side window before reaching inside. When the defendant accelerated away, Ross testified, he was dragged roughly 100 yards, throughout which period he repeatedly deployed a taser. Muñoz-Guatemala subsequently known as 911 to report he’d been the sufferer of an assault.
Throughout his trial, Muñoz-Guatemala said he didn’t understand that Ross—who in accordance to his personal testimony was carrying ranger inexperienced and grey and wore his badge on his belt—was a federal agent. (Ross testified that Muñoz-Guatemala had requested to converse to an legal professional, which might counsel he knew Ross was performing as legislation enforcement, however an FBI agent who witnessed the incident mentioned he didn’t hear this. In accordance to courtroom data, this declare did not come up in pretrial interviews, and prosecutors mentioned they’d not heard it before he made the declare in courtroom.) Muñoz-Guatemala’s attorneys say now that had he been tried after Good’s killing, his protection might have additionally asserted that he was justified in resisting Ross, who they declare was the aggressor and used extreme drive.
The argument is that the jury directions primarily contained a two-part choice tree: Jurors might convict Muñoz-Guatemala in the event that they believed he ought to have identified Ross was legislation enforcement. They may additionally convict him in the event that they believed driving away was not an inexpensive response.
Muñoz-Guatemala’s conviction does not point out which of those prongs the jury relied on. If it was the latter, the protection argues in the movement, the courtroom ought to have entry to proof that will have bearing on Ross’ conduct, techniques, and whether or not he behaved aggressively—information that may point out whether or not the agent has a historical past behaving recklessly in the discipline or opposite to his coaching.
Prosecutors have not but filed a response to the motions. An electronic mail to an deal with related to Ross in publicly accessible data did not end in a direct response. The Division of Justice did not instantly reply to a request for remark. The Division of Homeland Safety did not instantly reply to questions on Ross’ present responsibility standing or the standing of any departmental overview.
Ross has been positioned on administrative depart following the January 7 capturing of Good, a 37-year-old Minnesota poet and mom of three, a step DHS officers say is customary protocol after deadly use of drive. Ross has not been charged in Good’s killing, and the Justice Division has mentioned it can not pursue prison costs.
Disclaimer: This article is sourced from external platforms. OverBeta has not independently verified the information. Readers are advised to verify details before relying on them.
