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In his testimony last month in federal court in Minnesota, FBI Special Agent Bernardo Medellin appeared to directly contradict the claim that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent Jonathan Ross Under oath about whether the man they were trying to arrest had asked to speak to his lawyer.
Medellin’s testimony, which details federal training on interactions with drivers, also raises questions about whether Ross followed his training during the interaction that led to the shooting and killing of Renee Nicole Goode, a 37-year-old mother, last week. Ross has been identified by several media outlets as the shooter. While the Trump administration has refused to confirm these reports, details about the shooter shared by Vice President J.D. Vance match those of Ross’s biography.
like WIRED previously reportedIn December, Ross testified that last June he led a team seeking to arrest a man named Roberto Carlos Muñoz Guatemala, who had an administrative order for being in the United States without authorization. According to his testimony, after following Muñoz-Guatemala in an unmarked car, Ross — who was wearing green and gray clothing and had his badge on his belt — approached the man and asked him to roll down his window and open his door. He then broke the rear driver’s side window with a special tool and got into the car. Muñoz-Guatemala accelerated, eventually shaking Ross, who fired a stun gun at him as the car moved. Ross testified that he needed 33 stitches because of his injuries. Muñoz-Guatemala was later convicted Assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.
At trial, prosecutors sought to prove that Muñoz-Guatemala understood that Ross was a federal law enforcement officer during their initial interaction. Ross testified that he repeatedly told Muñoz Guatemala that he was a law enforcement officer in English and Spanish, and that he had “no concerns.” Muñoz Guatemala did not speak English because he responded to Ross in English.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Raphael Coburn asked: “When you say, ‘The response was made in English,’ what do you mean?”
“He will,” Ross replied. “He’ll say he wants his lawyer. I think he said that.”
During the trial, this matter became a point of contention because it had not been brought up during pre-trial interviews and was therefore a surprise to both Muñoz’s Guatemalan lawyer, Eric Newmark, and to US prosecutors.
“I was frankly shocked when he said that,” Newmark told District Judge Jeffrey Bryan. “That was not in any of his previous statements, and I understand that it was never — the government was as surprised as I was that he said that.” Newmark went on to explain that Ross’s claim concerned whether his client “believed he was talking to law enforcement or to someone trying to harm him,” and that he intended to question Ross about the fact that Muñoz Guatemala’s alleged request for an attorney came neither during an interview Ross conducted with the FBI nor during pretrial preparation — something to which neither Bryan nor Coburn, the government’s attorney, disputed. Under questioning by Newmark, Ross acknowledged that it was “fair to say” that he had never made this claim before.
The question came up again when Newmark interrogated Medellin, an FBI special agent who participated in the operation under Ross’ command. Medellin testified that Muñoz Guatemala — who described his English as limited, and for whom the court provided an interpreter during the two-day trial — repeatedly asked Ross who he was.
“You never heard Mr. Muñoz Guatemala ask for a lawyer, did you?” Newmark asked.
“No,” said Medellin, who confirmed he heard most or all of the conversation, and again said he never heard Muñoz Guatemala ask for a lawyer.
In response to WIRED’s question about his opinion on the reliability of Ross’ testimony, Newmark said: “I’m not commenting on this case because it’s still pending, but I think you can tell from my questioning of him and others what I thought about it.”