Federal prosecutors in Chicago on Thursday dropped one of the most high-profile criminal cases to result from the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation campaign, one the feds have pointed to while insisting agents on the ground were under attack.
Marimar Martinez, 30, and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, have faced an assault charge since early October for allegedly tailing a Chevrolet Tahoe driven by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum. They allegedly boxed it in and ultimately collided with it.
Exum then fired five shots at Martinez, leaving her with seven wounds. The shooting drew about 100 protesters to Brighton Park, who were met with pepper balls and tear gas deployed by federal agents. The moment has been the subject of testimony in a separate case and has even been mentioned in written briefs before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin insisted online last month that agents had been “assaulted” and “rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars.”
But Thursday, prosecutors moved to drop the indictment brought against the only two people charged in the incident. The motion from assistant U.S. attorneys Ronald DeWald and Aaron Bond did not explain the reasoning behind their decision.
Defense attorneys have not commented. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection representative did not immediately respond to an inquiry from the Chicago Sun-Times. But lawyers were set to meet with U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis later Thursday afternoon.
“The U.S. attorney’s office is constantly evaluating new facts and information relating to cases and investigations arising out of Operation Midway Blitz, the largest ever law enforcement surge in the Northern District of Illinois,” said Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros.
“This continuous review process applies to all matters — whether charged or under investigation,” Fitzpatrick added. “It helps ensure that the interests of justice are served in each and every case, and that those cases that are charged are appropriately adjudicated through our federal court system.”
The move comes after defense attorneys aggressively challenged the evidence and sought a speedy trial. Alexakis heard testimony two weeks ago from Exum, who took the car he drove during the incident back to Maine before defense attorneys could examine it.
The judge also recently told prosecutors to produce a set of text messages, apparently from Exum, to defense attorneys. The contents of those text messages have not been revealed.
The case is one of two stemming from Operation Midway Blitz to be dropped by prosecutors Thursday, and at least the ninth overall. The feds on Thursday also dropped a misdemeanor charge brought against Dana Briggs, who was allegedly involved in an altercation with federal agents outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview.
No known criminal prosecution at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse tied to the deportation campaign has led to a conviction, so far.
In the case against Martinez and Ruiz, prosecutors alleged that Martinez drove a Nissan Rogue that side-swiped Exum’s Tahoe on Oct. 4 at 39th and Kedzie. Ruiz allegedly drove a GMC Envoy that struck its rear right end. Exum then opened fire.
Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th) has since testified about protests that followed in the area, as well as the response from federal agents. She told U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis the feds brought in an “armored vehicle” that “looked very much like a tank.” An agent on top was “pointing their gun down at the community,” she said.
“I couldn’t even believe I was living that,” Ramirez said.
A separate hearing in Alexakis’ courtroom also revealed that Exum bragged about the shooting in text messages. He wrote to friends in a “support group” that “I fired 5 rounds and she had 7 holes. Put that in your book boys.”
On Monday, Alexakis wrote on the court docket that she’d since reviewed unredacted copies of Exum’s text messages. She wound up having a meeting with government counsel afterward.
The judge then told the feds to “promptly” deliver the additional text messages, which have not been disclosed, to the defendants.
The first sign of trouble in the case came when defense attorney Chris Parente revealed last month that Exum had taken the vehicle he’d driven in Brighton Park back to Maine. Parente called the car the “centerpiece” of the dispute, and his complaint led to Exum’s testimony in the hearing before Alexakis.
Exum 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 black scuff marks had been buffed out.
Exum’s boss, deputy patrol agent Kevin Kellenberger, told Exum in an 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.
“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 wrote.
Contributing: Kade Heather