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Comment by beeflet | Hacker News Reader

I think they may get away with it. Our head-of-state is already describing it as an act of self-defense.

The president can do jack shit to stop a state prosecution, one of the blessed advantages of federalism.

That may be the case, I am not an expert in law. I hope there is some type of repercussion for the cop that point-blanks a random driver.

I just don't hold much faith in the separation of power between state and federal government, it sounds like there has been a massive erosion of this barrier since the civil war and the abuse of the commerce clause and all that.

A cop did not do this, an ice agent did. It might sound trivial, but it very much isn’t when it comes to prosecution in this circumstance.

Maybe he cuts their federal funding by $10Bn until they drop the charge. Seems to be roughly the playbook.

this is not true. why is this upvoted? first of all, ICE is federal. second, they were acting as part of "federal official" duties. it will be trivial to move any state prosecution to federal court.

Federal officers aren't immune from state prosecution just because they're federal officers, or because they're doing their federal duties at the moment. They also have to be acting in accord with their federal duties. See, e.g., https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/are-federal-officials-i... (although that's not in response to the current incident).

They will certainly attempt to dismiss any charges, but they are far from guaranteed that they will be successful.

They’re literally on camera doing ice work (prior to the killing), virtually guaranteed it’ll count.

That doesn't matter. It's not enough that they were doing their job beforehand, their actions at stake have to comport with their actual duties.

So is it part of their official duties to walk in front of a car of someone who is trying to leave the scene, alter their path when the car turns out of the way to ensure they remain in their way, and then shoot the driver? Or is that merely the kind of excessive force that's in contravention of their training and not part of their job role?

Watch the video, it’s obvious. The person was stopped as part of an ice directive.

They definitely get away with it. To be punished requires:

1. Prosecution. US wont because of trump. State might not because of some threat from trump.

2. Proof beyond reasonable doubt. Video can make case for self defence so bar is high.

3. No presidential pardon.

1. Minnesota will absolutely prosecute, Walz has already announced a criminal investigation.

2. We'll let the jury decide but ICE is specifically trained not to shoot at moving vehicles and not to approach them from the front.

3. The president can't pardon someone convicted of murder in a state court, he can only pardon people convicted of federal crimes.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c99knmrx71go

"Minnesota officials say FBI blocked their access to ICE shooting probe"

Not at all unexpected given Trump's sycophants are heading the FBI. Luckily Minnesota is moving forward with their own independent review:

https://www.startribune.com/hennepin-county-prosecutor-attor...

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