A Border Patrol vehicle that might be important evidence in the cases against two people accused of assaulting federal officers in Chicago is apparently in Maine, where an agent was allegedly allowed to bring the SUV, according to news reports.
A U.S. District Court judge in Illinois signed an order Friday morning requiring the Department of Homeland Security to “preserve and maintain” all records related to the Oct. 4 incident that led to charges against Marimar Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz.
The pair is accused of ramming their vehicles into a silver Chevrolet Tahoe occupied by three Border Patrol agents, according to a criminal complaint filed against both defendants in the Illinois federal court’s northern district.
One of the agents — none of whom are named in court records — shot Martinez, who was treated at a hospital for her wounds, according to court records.
Martinez and Santos Ruiz have each pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting federal officers.
The judge’s preservation order includes “emails, text messages, documents, notes and other materials” related to the incident. Martinez’s attorney, Christopher Parente, said in court Thursday he learned the Border Patrol vehicle was in Maine after he asked to inspect it, according to reporting from the Chicago Tribune.
The judge’s order doesn’t specifically mention the SUV.
Parente said he planned to file a motion for sanctions against the government, according to the Tribune, and questioned whether moving the vehicle to Maine was an “intentional act.”
A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection for Maine acknowledged an inquiry from a reporter Friday morning but did not immediately have a response to questions about the vehicle and agents. It’s unclear which agent was allowed to bring the car to Maine and why the agent made the trip.
Federal prosecutors have accused Martinez and Santos Ruiz of following the agents before the alleged crash and pursuing them “aggressively” while the agents were acting as security detail for a U.S. Customs and Border Protection operation.
Neither Parente nor a federal public defender representing Santos Ruiz immediately responded to messages seeking comment Friday.
Parente wrote in court records that there were “multiple factual inaccuracies” in a press release issued on the day of the incident by the Department of Homeland Security that “presumably originated with Border Patrol agents involved in this investigation. The credibility of DHS Agents’ descriptions of the events at issue will be the focal point of the defense at trial.”
