A Trump-appointed federal judge has accused Department of Homeland Security agents of mishandling the handgun carried by nurse Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by agents during an altercation in Minneapolis late last month.
However, U.S. District Judge Eric Tostrud has stopped short of continuing court oversight of evidence-handling regarding the case.
According to Politico, “In an 18-page ruling, Tostrud said Monday that he would lift a restraining order he granted last week after state and local officials raised alarm that Department of Homeland Security personnel may have failed to safeguard crucial evidence from the crime scene. ‘Though the record is not one-sided, the greater weight of the evidence shows Defendants are not likely to destroy or improperly alter evidence related to Mr. Pretti’s shooting during the life of this case, and other relevant considerations do not on balance favor a continuing preservation order,’ the Trump-appointed judge wrote.”
Specifically, he said, “The record here shows the loss or spoliation [of evidence] more likely resulted from exigent circumstances, not from Defendants’ substandard evidence-gathering or preservation activities.”
At the same time, Tostrud excoriated Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House adviser Stephen Miller for claiming, with no evidence, that Pretti was a domestic terrorist aiming to kill federal agents.
“These statements are troubling,” he said. “They reflect, not a genuine interest in learning the truth, but snap judgments informed by speculation and motivated by political partisanship.”
All of this comes amid reporting that the Trump administration has no plans to open a civil rights investigation into Pretti’s death.
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