Defense attorneys for the woman shot by a Border Patrol agent in Brighton Park this month said evidence in the case may be spoiled after the agent drove his car back to Maine and a mechanic was ordered to fix the damage.
Chris Parente, who represents Marimar Martinez, demanded in a weekend filing to question the agent about why he drove the vehicle used in the incident over 1,000 miles back to his home state of Maine — where a government attorney on Monday disclosed a mechanic was ordered to fix the car.
It’s not clear if the mechanic has done any of the work on the car, which now resides in a Customs and Border Patrol parking lot in Maine, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Dewald said.
U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis said the news about the possible repair was enough reason to set a hearing to pin down details from the agent about what happened.
“Normally I’d be inclined to let the discovery process play out,” Alexakis said. “I’m a little concerned there is information beyond (the prosecution’s) control, and the quickest way … is to have at least an initial hearing where the agent testifies.”
She ordered that hearing for Nov. 6, and set a tentative trial date for the week of Feb. 2.
The agent who took the car to Maine “presumably had no FBI evidence technician with him warning of the various pitfalls of proper evidence preservation, or that no one should be within two feet of his vehicle,” Parente wrote.
Parente wrote that it was “ironic” when attorneys were prohibited at an FBI evidence garage from inspecting the vehicles that had been driven by Martinez and her co-defendant, Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz.
In the hearing, Dewald said a “agent in charge” authorized the repair of the agent’s vehicle because it had been processed by evidence technicians.
“We don’t know if the (repair) has been finished. Maybe everything has been preserved,” Dewald said.
Parente countered that the timing of sending the agent back to his home state after the shooting was “suspect,” and demanded a hearing “sooner rather than later.”
The defense attorney warned in his nine-page filing that the controversy could lead to dismissal of the indictment against the pair. He also noted that federal authorities cited the prosecution in their recent submission to the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking an order that would allow President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops within Illinois.
Alexakis on Thursday ordered the vehicle returned to Chicago on a flatbed trailer. A prosecutor told her the vehicle at issue is the agent’s personally assigned government vehicle. Dewald on Monday said the car would be sent back to Chicago as early as this week.
Lawyers have sought a speedy trial for Martinez and Ruiz. Parente told Alexakis the feds “publicly branded this woman as a domestic terrorist.
“We’re trying to clear her name as soon as possible,” he said.
Martinez’s Oct. 4 shooting set off angry protests, prompting agents to deploy pepper balls and tear gas. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the shooting erupted after agents were “rammed by 10 cars” and “boxed in.”
Then, in a criminal complaint charging Martinez and Ruiz with assault, an FBI agent alleged that a Chevrolet Tahoe carrying three Border Patrol agents had been followed by a convoy of vehicles, including a Nissan Rogue driven by Martinez and a GMC Envoy driven by Ruiz.
The feds allege that Martinez “side-swiped” the Border Patrol vehicle and Ruiz “drove into and struck the rear right” of that vehicle. They also alleged that Martinez drove the Rogue toward an agent who had gotten out of the car.
That agent then fired five shots at Martinez, according to the complaint.
A prosecutor has said in court that Martinez had a loaded firearm on the passenger side of her car but never brandished it. Martinez has a valid firearm and concealed-carry license, Parente has said.
Not only that, but Parente’s latest court filing says the gun was found “at the bottom of her purse, inside a snapped closed bright pink holster.”
The defense attorney has aggressively challenged the feds’ entire account. He told Alexakis last week that federal officials have released “objectively wrong” information about the incident. He also said the cars simply “made contact side-by-side,” and that the agent then jumped out of his car and opened fire.
In an earlier hearing, Parente also alleged that an agent said “do something b—” before getting out of the vehicle and shooting at Martinez.