Suffolk DA blasts judge for dismissing case of man detained by ICE midtrial
Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden on Thursday admonished a state court judge for dismissing the case of a man arrested by ICE mid-trial and asked federal authorities to investigate what they described as ICE's violation of its own procedures.
Wilson Martell-Lebron was detained by ICE near Boston Municipal Court last month after the first day of his trial for falsifying information to the Registry of Motor Vehicles. Judge Mark Summerville, who was overseeing the trial, dismissed the case against Martell-Lebron with prejudice, finding prosecutors knowingly allowed him to be taken into federal custody.
Summerville also held ICE agent Brian Sullivan in contempt, a finding thrown out in federal court at the request of U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foley's office.
But in a letter Thursday, Hayden blasted Summerville for apparently failing to take steps to ensure Martell-Lebron's trial could continue after he was detained by ICE. Prosecutors told the judge ICE would bring Martell-Lebron to court if he ordered them to do so.
Hayden wrote that Summerville's decision to hold Sullivan in contempt of court and refer him for prosecution was 'patently illegal.' The district attorney said his office has no authority to prosecute a federal agent.
It's the latest development in a case that has essentially pitted local prosecutors against the federal government amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.
Hayden's office said it intends to appeal Summerville's decision to dismiss the case.
Hayden's letter faults Summerville's finding of prosecutorial misconduct, saying Massachusetts law precluded him from lumping two Massachusetts State Police troopers and Sullivan, the ICE agent, in with the prosecution team.
The letter also takes aim at ICE for interfering with the proceeding, with Hayden writing that the agency ignored its own protocols, which would typically prevent the arrest of a person on trial in state court. Hayden notes that his office has no authority to prosecute Sullivan, but writes that 'the interruption of a criminal trial by ICE impedes local law enforcement and is contrary to the interests of justice.'
Still, Hayden says, there was no evidence ICE attempted to prevent Martell-Lebron's trial from continuing.
'The record reflects that ICE would have returned the defendant to court if Judge Summerville had merely issued a writ of habeas corpus pursuant to the directives of the Massachusetts Trial Court,' the letter reads. 'Had Judge Summerville simply followed the law and the procedures of the Chief Justice of the Trial Court, the trial could have continued after only a slight delay.'
When Summerville ruled Sullivan was in contempt, he said he had done everything in his power to ensure Martell-Lebron's trial would continue.
Hayden said that was simply not true, and that the finding of contempt violated 'basic facts' of the Supremacy Clause.
Summerville also found there was an 'ethical obligation' for the prosecution to inform Martell-Lebron's lawyer about the pending ICE action, and faulted the district attorney's office for improperly training its prosecutors. Hayden took issue with that claim, writing that no such obligation existed.
Had prosecutors notified Martell-Lebron's lawyer of the pending federal action, they risked federal prosecution, Hayden said, pointing to the case of Judge Shelley Joseph, who was indicted after prosecutors said she intentionally let a man evade detention by ICE.
To that end, Foley, in an open letter to Hayden, said 'any attempt or threat to interfere with the lawful actions of federal agents will not be tolerated.' (The district attorney's office says it never received the letter).
Hayden's letter notes that Massachusetts law prevents the detention of a person solely on the basis of a federal civil immigration detainer and that hiking a person's bail to ensure they remain in custody is a legal question pending before the Supreme Judicial Court.
Still, Hayden places much of the blame on ICE for arresting Martell-Lebron in the first place.
'We do not know why ICE decided to take the unprecedented step of arresting the defendant midtrial, interfering with a state criminal prosecution and preventing this office from holding the defendant accountable, but it certainly was not to protect the public,' he wrote. 'This interruption of a criminal trial makes the public less safe.'
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