A judge in Boston is holding an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in contempt after he detained a suspect while he was on trial.

Summary

A Boston judge held ICE agent Brian Sullivan in contempt for arresting Wilson Martell-Lebron during his trial, violating his due process rights.

The judge dismissed Martell-Lebron’s charge and criticized ICE for interrupting the proceedings without identifying themselves or returning the defendant to court.

Martell-Lebron was taken to a detention center for allegedly being undocumented.

The incident, amid broader tensions over immigration enforcement in Boston, may lead to criminal charges. Massachusetts officials denied prior knowledge of ICE’s timing, and the case is now under review by the Suffolk DA.

  • gAlienLifeform@lemmy.world
    16·
    2 days ago

    Excellent question, unfortunately it sounds like the courts are yet again trying to squirm out of imposing real consequences on fascists

    After that, Summerville filed the contempt charge against Sullivan, which could lead Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden review the case to determine if any charges should be filed.

    Also, this seems like a pretty big conflict of interest

    During the two-day hearing, Sullivan [the ICE agent charged with contempt] said that the lead prosecution witnessed confirmed that both the Massachusetts State police and prosecutors were aware of ICE plans to arrest Martell-Lebron.

    …

    … a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said “we were dismayed and surprised when our prosecution of Wilson Martell-Lebron was interrupted by ICE apprehending him in the middle of his trial.”

    “Any claim that we were aware of an attempt to prevent Mr Martell-Lebron from exercising his right to a trial is false.,” he said in a statement. “It was our intention to try Mr. Martell-Lebron and hold him accountable for the crimes alleged in the complaint. Federal authorities should not have detained him and interfered with our efforts to hold him accountable.”

    So the guy responsible for figuring out whether to punish this ICE agent is possibly a co-conspirator with him. Of course, that’s being alleged by the ICE agent who has every reason to lie about it, so I am definitely not saying I buy that allegation, but someone independent of the whole mess needs to investigate.