Contempt case against ICE agent dismissed, but advocates still demand answers

A federal judge has dismissed the contempt case against a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who arrested a man on his way out of a Boston court. The case has drawn in a panoply of local, state and federal officials — testing the ability of local officials to stand up to the Trump administration.

The ordeal started last month, when Wilson Martell-Lebron of Saugus was facing trial for allegedly lying on a driver’s license application. As he walked out of the courthouse, Special Agent Brian Sullivan arrested him. Sullivan knew a lot about the case: the district attorney was using him as a witness against Martell-Lebron.

The judge held Sullivan in contempt for violating Martell-Lebron's constitutional rights by detaining him in the midst of a trial. But then things got more complicated; the U.S. attorney for Massachusetts moved the proceeding against Sullivan to federal court, and argued that local judges and prosecutors have no jurisdiction over a federal agent carrying out official duties.

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley also said interference in federal immigration enforcement would "not be tolerated."

On Friday, state Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office filed in court that it would not dispute the U.S. attorney’s effort to have the case vacated. By Monday morning, a federal judge in Boston dismissed the contempt case against Sullivan. District Attorney Kevin Hayden — whose office was working with the ICE agent in the prosecution of Martell-Lebron — could still bring obstruction of justice charges. But a spokesperson for Hayden said the DA does not have to make a move.

Meanwhile, some legal advocates want to know more about the relationship between ICE and the district attorney’s office. They say prosecutors knew ICE was planning to make an arrest, and failed to disclose that to the court or to defense attorneys.

“We’re in uncharted territory here,” said Shira Diner, president of the Massachusetts Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a law professor at Boston University. She’s not involved in the case, but was among a group of attorneys who attended the hearing that led to the contempt finding against Sullivan.

“People are getting taken off the street in the middle of their trial and … we all need to think differently about how we're going to conduct ourselves in this new system.”

Hayden has said his office’s policy is to neither “support nor interfere with ICE and the operations of their duties.”

But Diner said Hayden should establish clear protocols on how to deal with immigration enforcement amid prosecutions.

“Anyone who thinks this is a one-time incident is wrong,” Diner said. “The situation is going to come up again, and how the district attorney's office [deals with ICE]  is really important.”

Asked about the call to set new protocols, Hayden spokesperson James Borghesani said the district attorney's "responsibility" was to prosecute Martell-Burton.

"We did so to the best of our ability, including multiple attempts to get him back after ICE seized him,” he said.

Developments in the case against the ICE agent come as Attorney General Campbell is party to multiple civil lawsuits against the Trump administration over immigration policies. A spokesperson for Campbell did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the decision not to oppose the federal effort to have the contempt case dismissed.

Defense attorney Murat Erkan, who represented Martell-Lebron, said he wanted to see the AG continue fighting the case. He said not doing so creates the impression that the U.S. attorney's "threats to take action against those who oppose ICE has had its intended effect."