One day after a federal agent shot Rene Nicole Good to death in her car at point blank range, the top U.S. newsrooms and an international investigative journalism collective delivered a clear verdict about what the publicly available videos show.
They show Good trying to drive away from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent who shot her, identified by several news outlets today as longtime agent Jonathan Ross.
In a 30-minute Substack Live, former Florida State Attorney Dave Aronberg draws from his experiences as an ex-prosecutor to assess the challenges Minnesota law enforcement might face from a federal government that could actively try to thwart their investigation.
“If I were a state attorney, I would bring this to a grand jury,” Aronberg said. “Normally, you just close it out because the evidence shows there was no crime here, but here, there’s enough evidence.”
In a must-watch video analysis, The New York Times unequivocally reported, “Videos Contradict Trump Administration Account of ICE Shooting in Minneapolis.” The Washington Post also didn’t hedge with the headline, “Video shows ICE agent in Minneapolis fired at driver as vehicle veered past him.” Bellingcat, which specializes in deep forensic analysis that reconstructs war zones and other chaotic scenes, reported flatly that Good attempted to “drive around” Ross.
Bringing clarity to the social media chaos, the best data and visualization journalists in the business demolished Donald Trump and Kristi Noem’s smears of the deceased victim as a domestic terrorist who weaponized her car against ICE.
Good, 37, was a poet, a mother of three, and not an activist, according to her ex-husband.
In a press conference today, J.D. Vance falsely claimed that ICE agents have absolute immunity from state prosecution, but the federal government has been refusing to work with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.
In the interview, Aronberg laid out how the federal government can try to stymie an investigation and possible prosecution. He also explains what would happen if Ross removed a hypothetical case to federal court.
It remains unknown which of the shots that the ICE agent fired into Good’s car killed her, a fact that reminded Aronberg about a case he prosecuted against a police officer.
By charging the case as attempted murder, Aronberg explained that prosecutors didn’t need to show which shot killed the innocent victim.
“It was just the fact that he was shooting at someone who was running away, and that led to a conviction, and the cop is now in prison for 25 years,” Aronberg said.
Watch the full video at the top of this newsletter.
