Federal prosecutors have moved to dismiss the charges they brought against a woman shot by a Border Patrol agent last month in Brighton Park, one of the most high-profile criminal cases to result from the Trump administration’s’ “Operation Midway Blitz.”
The feds moved Thursday morning to dismiss the indictment that had been brought against Marimar Martinez and Anthony Ruiz, hours ahead of a status hearing in the case. Defense attorneys for the pair have been aggressively challenging evidence and sought a speedy trial.
The motion from assistant U.S. attorneys Ronald DeWald and Aaron Bond did not explain the decision. A U.S. attorney’s office spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis heard testimony two weeks ago about what happened after the Oct. 4 incident in Brighton Park, which led to a standoff between protesters and federal agents who deployed pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd.
Solicitor General John Sauer has also pointed to it while arguing the U.S. Supreme Court should let President Donald Trump deploy National Guard troops here.
Martinez, 30, and Ruiz, 21, faced an assault charge for allegedly tailing a Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum, boxing it in and ultimately colliding with it.
Prosecutors alleged that Martinez drove a Nissan Rogue that side-swiped Exum’s Tahoe. Ruiz allegedly drove a GMC Envoy that struck its rear right end.
Exum opened fire on Martinez, who suffered seven gunshot wounds. Exum allegedly bragged about it in text messages later, writing to friends in a “support group” that, “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
Redacted versions of those messages were made public during a Nov. 5 hearing in Alexakis’ courtroom. But Monday, she wrote on the court docket that she’d since reviewed unredacted copies. She wound up having a meeting with government counsel afterward.
The judge told the feds to “promptly” deliver additional text messages to the defendants, according to the docket.
Martinez attorney Chris Parente also raised questions about the feds’ handling of Exum’s Tahoe, calling it the “centerpiece” of the dispute over what happened in Brighton Park.
Exum testified Nov. 5 about what happened after the shooting.
The FBI seized the Rogue, Envoy and Tahoe. But it released only the Tahoe after taking photos and processing it for evidence.
Exum then drove the vehicle more than 1,000 miles, between Oct. 8 and 10, back to his Border Patrol station in Maine. He parked it inside a garage, he said.
About a week later, he got a call from an FBI agent asking if any work had been done on the car. He said no. But Exum said he later checked on the car and noticed it had been moved to another part of the garage — and that the black scuff marks were buffed out.
Exum then emailed the Border Patrol agents at his Maine station, as well as their mechanic, informing them not to move the car. He also noted that the FBI questioned why the scuff marks were removed.
Exum’s boss, deputy patrol agent Kevin Kellenberger, told Exum in another email that it was his idea to have the scuff marks buffed out. Kellenberger wrote that he thought the Tahoe had undergone all necessary processing for evidence.
“If they needed it as evidence I did not think they would have released it from the investigation, had you drive three days all the way back to Maine, possibly destroying some of that evidence along the way,” Kellenberger’s email reads.