Minnesota authorities face an “uphill battle” in conducting an investigation into the fatal ICE shooting of Renee Good separately from the federal government’s probe, according to local legal experts.
The challenges include not being able to access key forensic evidence from the scene, and receiving no updates about the federal investigation. Minnesota officials must also overcome statements from President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance supporting the ICE officer’s actions.
“One of the reasons that it’s going to be difficult to get an indictment at the state level is because the feds have already announced they don’t think he did anything wrong,” former U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger told Sahan Journal.
But some say the effort is not futile.
“It’s a very difficult case, but I don’t think it’s a lost cause because there is some video evidence that they do have access to,” said University of St. Thomas School of Law professor Rachel Moran. “[The video] does show the shooting itself. There are potentially other witnesses who might be perfectly willing and happy to talk to them.”
On the same day ICE agent Jonathan Ross fired three shots killing Good, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) agreed to conduct a joint investigation into the shooting. But hours later, according to the BCA, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota dropped the BCA from the investigation.
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The move bars state investigators from accessing any of the evidence in the federal investigation, and prompted Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to announce plans Friday for an independent, local investigation.
“It essentially means there will not be a fair and effective investigation of that shooting,” Heffelfinger said of the federal government’s posture on the investigation. “It’s going to be extraordinarily hard for Moriarty and Ellison to gather evidence of what happened, because all the evidence is in the hands of the FBI.”
The Minnesota U.S. Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.
Moriarty and Ellison won’t have access to Ross’ gun, the car Good was driving when she was shot, and witness statements given to federal investigators, Heffelfinger said.
In lieu of this, Ellison and Moriarty are calling on the public to submit any evidence they have.
BCA Superintendent Drew Evans said Friday that the state agency won’t conduct its own investigation into the shooting, but will provide “limited assistance” to Moriarty’s office by collecting and preserving video and other evidence. Evans said the BCA will also provide that evidence to the FBI. The BCA investigates officer-involved shootings in Minnesota.
Moriarty told Sahan Journal that community members have submitted photos and videos via an online portal she and Ellison set up for their investigation. Citizens have also submitted tips, suggestions and additional accounts about what happened.
She said her office will also have access to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s report of Good’s death, which is pending.
Moriarty’s office does not, however, have access to evidence like Good’s car, the agent’s firearm, shell casings from the scene and any other evidence the FBI collected.
Moriarty told Sahan Journal Monday that the federal government continues to exclude local and state officials from its investigation, and that it remains unclear whether its position will change.
Moriarty said the federal government also intends not to make the results of its investigation available to the public or local and state authorities, which hurts the public’s trust in government while making it more challenging for her office to try to hold the agent accountable.
“I would hope that they would reconsider, but if they do not, we’re just going to continue going along and collecting whatever we can get and figuring out if we have enough information to make a decision,” she said.
Former Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said video evidence and eyewitness accounts the FBI and Ellison and Moriarty collect will likely become the most important evidence in both investigations. That could improve the odds of an indictment of Ross in the local investigation, she said.
“It’s all going to come down to the question of whether use of force is justified,” Gaertner said. “I’m not sure what forensic evidence would add to that question.”
Heffelfinger, Moran and Gaertner agreed that video evidence submitted by the public will not likely present chain of custody issues.
“There’s a potential issue with whether the videos are authentic, but that seems like something that could be overcome,” Moran said, pointing to experts who could be called as witnesses to explain whether or not video evidence has been manipulated.
“That would be the case no matter what,” Gartner said of questions about video authenticity. “The prevalence of AI is going to make prosecutors’ jobs harder in any case.”
Gaertner added that Ellison and Moriarty have “an uphill battle in trying to marshall evidence,” and said their investigation could take months, if not years. She emphasized that Minnesota law includes no statute of limitations on murder and manslaughter charges, meaning an investigation could continue as long as necessary.
The federal government could not stop the prosecution if Ellison and Moriarty’s investigation were to result in an indictment, Heffelfinger said. But the federal government could support Ross during the process.
“The feds can’t block a state investigation, but they can certainly support that officer, which they’re already doing,” Heffelfinger said.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has defended the shooting and said Ross was following his training. Noem said Good had been “impeding” officers’ work all day, and weaponized her car against them when she was shot.
