"Prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois on Thursday morning filed the motion to dismiss the case against 30-year-old Marimar Martinez and her co-defendant, 21-year-old Anthony Ruiz. No reason for the dismissal was given in the motion filed hours before a scheduled status hearing, though attorneys for the defendants criticized the weakness of the government's case from the start. U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis will rule on the motion Thursday afternoon."
"Justice Department officials have declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. But the government's allegations were called into question almost immediately. A Department of Homeland Security news release the day of the alleged ramming described one of the drivers, later identified as Martinez, as being "armed with a semi-automatic weapon." An eight-page criminal complaint submitted a day later made no mention of the firearm."
Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois filed a motion to dismiss federal charges against 30-year-old Marimar Martinez and 21-year-old Anthony Ruiz, providing no reason in the filing made hours before a scheduled status hearing. U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis will decide the motion. Martinez and Ruiz were indicted on assault and attempted murder of a federal employee with a deadly or dangerous weapon after an Oct. 4 incident in which Border Patrol agents said a caravan boxed agents in and rammed their vehicle, and agent Charles Exum shot Martinez five times. The incident led to protests, aggressive standoffs, tear gas use, and a National Guard deployment; early government statements about a firearm conflicted with a later criminal complaint, and defense attorneys criticized the case's strength.
Read at The Washington Post
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