Background: Attorney General Pam Bondi listens as President Donald Trump speaks at an event on addiction recovery in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert). Inset left: Alex Jeffrey Pretti (Family). Inset right: Inset: Renee Nicole Good (Obituary on Ever Loved).
More than 300 former Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys are pleading with Attorney General Pam Bondi to abide by decades of settled standards and allow state and local officials to investigate the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.
As the 303 ex-DOJ prosecutors and civil rights attorneys write in a letter to Bondi postmarked Wednesday, blocking local investigations into Good and Pretti's deaths at the hands of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents would not just signify a "severe departure from established DOJ norms," but also "pose a serious threat to the rule of law."
On Jan. 7, Good, a Minneapolis mother and activist, was shot and killed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent as she drove her SUV away from law enforcement officers. Federal immigration agents had been in the state since at least December, when the Trump administration launched "Operation Metro Surge."
Following Good's killing, the DOJ announced that it saw "no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation," and federal officials such as Vice President JD Vance were quick to denigrate her and state that the officer who killed her had "absolute immunity."
Fewer than three weeks later, on Jan. 24, DHS agents shot and killed Pretti, a Minneapolis intensive care unit nurse and activist. Federal officials, again, were quick to disparage the shooting victim, claiming that he "violently resisted" federal law enforcement.
As the letter to Bondi points out, Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) and Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty have asserted their intention to thoroughly investigate both fatal shootings, and Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara has asked for the BCA's help. But they have been shut out, the ex-DOJ attorneys maintain, pointing to reporting that federal authorities specifically ordered BCA personnel to leave the scene of Pretti's death.
"As the 303 below signatories can attest from more than 60 years of collective experience, the DOJ has authority neither in the law nor in generally accepted law enforcement investigatory practices of officer-involved shootings to prevent BCA from conducting its own investigation in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the U.S. Attorney's Office, and the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division," the letter reads.
"Under well-established principles of dual sovereignty, both federal and state authorities may investigate and prosecute the same incident under their respective laws," the ex-DOJ attorneys add.
The letter continues, stating it is "highly unusual" for federal authorities to shut out a state investigative agency from investigating a possible crime in its own jurisdiction. The ex-DOJ lawyers warn that preventing the state and county officials from investigating "would undermine cooperative law enforcement frameworks that exist to deliver accuracy, accountability, and public confidence in the rule of law and its impartial application."
Furthermore, they say, if the Trump administration ultimately finds that the officers' actions were "lawful and justified," they should have no fear that the state and local investigators would not reach the same conclusion.
The letter proceeds to take a bird's-eye view of the state of the U.S. and the national disconcertment with the fatal shootings.
No matter which party sits in the White House, DOJ plays a crucial role in ensuring that the American people can trust the justice system to preserve our foundational values of life and liberty. The well-being of the country seems to now sit on a knife's edge, with President Trump acknowledging that de-escalation is necessary to avoid further loss of life, property, and trust in our institutions. For this to happen, DOJ should allow a transparent, unbiased, and impartial investigation into both shootings, including by sharing evidence with BCA and refraining from preventing BCA or local prosecutors from conducting independent investigations.
While the Trump administration has scaled back its immigration enforcement campaign in Minnesota, citizens, officials, and lawmakers have called for ICE to be abolished altogether. They argue the agency has no accountability and is exhibiting the same kind of lawlessness it is purportedly designed to prevent.
The letter, which was signed by attorneys who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, was also sent to Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.