DOJ Drops Case Against Men Accused Of Assaulting ICE Officer

MINNEAPOLIS — A federal judge has dismissed felony assault charges against two Venezuelan men accused of attacking an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during a January traffic stop in north Minneapolis after prosecutors acknowledged that new evidence undermined the government’s original account.

U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen filed a motion Thursday seeking dismissal with prejudice for defendants Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna, meaning the case cannot be refiled.

In the motion, federal prosecutors said that “newly discovered evidence … is materially inconsistent with the allegations against them” in the original criminal complaint and related testimony.

The original complaint alleged that the two men attacked an ICE officer with a snow shovel and the handle of a broom, prompting the officer to fire and wound Sosa-Celis. Homeland Security officials initially described the encounter as a violent assault that required defensive force.

However, evidence presented during earlier court proceedings — including video footage and witness accounts — raised serious questions about the government’s narrative. Defense attorneys argued that the men did not violently attack the officer and that the officer’s account was not corroborated by independent evidence.

The judge granted the government’s motion Friday, dismissing the charges and effectively ending the federal prosecution.

CBS News continues:

A day after the shooting, the Department of Homeland Security said Sosa-Celis had fled the scene of a “targeted traffic stop” in Minneapolis in his vehicle, crashed into a parked car and kept fleeing on foot. When an ICE agent caught up to him, two men allegedly attacked the agent with a broom handle and snow shovel, and Sosa-Celis allegedly broke free and also started striking the officer. DHS said an officer then fired a “defensive shot to defend his life.” Sosa-Celis and two other men ran into an apartment but were later taken into custody, DHS said.

But in an affidavit to support charges against the two men, the FBI said that Aljorna — not Sosa-Celis — had fled the scene in a car, and Sosa-Celis was the one who initially struck the ICE officer with a broom stick while he tried to arrest Aljorna. The FBI alleged that Aljorna then broke free and started attacking the ICE officer with the same broomstick. The affidavit also says that the officer “had poor or sporadic lighting” and “had difficulty seeing the assailants.”

And in a cellphone video from the moments after the shooting that was shared online by a state lawmaker, a woman appears to tell a 911 operator that her husband was chased by ICE agents before he reached his home, and was shot in front of his family.

Frederick Goetz, an attorney for Aljorna, told CBS News he’s “delighted” by the decision to dismiss the charges with prejudice. He also commended the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota — which has been hit by a wave of resignations in recent weeks — for “doing the right thing.”

Aljorna’s attorney, Fred Goetz, told FOX 9 that prosecutors “did the right thing” by recognizing that “the evidence was completely different than what the agent claimed it was,” and acting with “integrity and professionalism” by dismissing the case with prejudice.

A statement released on behalf of the defendants and their families says they are “overjoyed at this news.” It adds that they believe the original charges “were based on lies by an ICE agent who recklessly shot into their home through a closed door” and urges that the agent’s identity be made public and that he face criminal charges for his actions.

DHS has not yet responded to FOX 9’s request for comment.

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