Minnesota Says Federal Government Halted Evidence Sharing in Investigations of Good and Pretti Killings
Rights & JusticeWell-covered
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The Facts
- Minnesota officials say federal agencies stopped sharing evidence in the Good and Pretti investigations.
- The investigations concern the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal officers.
- Minnesota sued the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security in March for investigative materials.
- Minnesota says it needs the materials to conduct independent investigations into the shootings.
- The Justice Department says it has discretion to decline information-sharing with state authorities.
- Minnesota still seeks officers' cell phones and recordings of key interviews.
- State officials had announced in July that federal evidence sharing had begun.
Context
What evidence had Minnesota received before officials said sharing stopped?
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said state investigators received hard drives containing officer statements and body-camera footage, along with the SUV Good was driving. CBS News
What is the legal disagreement?
The Trump administration has argued that state prosecutors lack jurisdiction to investigate federal officers, while Minnesota officials say they need access to independently investigate the shootings. U.S. News & World R… My Northwest Mail Online
What has Minnesota asked the court to do?
In an Oct. 13 filing, Minnesota asked the judge to rule without a trial and order the federal agencies to turn over the evidence. CBS News
Where Left and Right agree, and where they split
- Where Left and Right agree
- Evidence-sharing that began in July has stopped, the Justice Department claims discretion to withhold it, and Minnesota still lacks the officers' phones and interview recordings it wants for its own inquiry.
- Where Left and Right split
- Federal officers deciding for themselves who may scrutinize two killings, or whether a state can convert voluntary cooperation into a court-enforceable legal duty.
- Why they won’t converge
- The split reflects a trust-in-institution divide: Minnesota officials say they don't trust the federal government to investigate itself, while DOJ treats control over its own evidence as a prerogative no external investigator can compel.
How left and right read it
Sharing had already begun in July, so the claim of discretion to shut it off now reads as a choice to decide for itself who may examine the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. That burden belongs to the government holding the evidence.
Control of federal investigative materials belongs to the department that holds them, and voluntary cooperation does not ripen into a legal duty. That is why the Justice Department's claim of discretion to decline information-sharing matters more than the fact that sharing once flowed in July — Minnesota's demand for officers' cell phones and interview recordings now sits before the court it chose in March. So who must prove entitlement here?
The receipts — 12 sources
Independent coverage (12)
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