Jury acquits L.A. man who towed ICE automobile throughout influencer’s arrest

A federal jury has acquitted a South L.A. man who was charged with stealing authorities property by towing an immigration agent’s automobile throughout the arrest of a TikTok influencer in Downtown Los Angeles earlier this yr.

Bobby Nunez was arrested Sept. 2 after he was accused of interfering with the detainment of Tatiana Mafla-Martinez whereas she live-streamed her Aug. 15 arrest. Video of the incident confirmed an SUV being towed away from the parking storage of the Da Vinci Flats, the place Martinez is being pinned to the bottom by brokers.

The SUV was one in every of two automobiles getting used to field in Martinez’s automobile and forestall her from escaping the luxurious condo complicated, based on an affidavit filed with the grievance. Nunez was 33 on the time of the incident, and Martinez was 23.

After a four-day trial and greater than three hours of deliberation, the jury discovered Nunez not responsible of 1 rely of theft of presidency property Friday, based on the U.S. lawyer’s workplace, which declined to touch upon the decision. He had confronted as much as 10 years in jail, if convicted.

Nunez’s attorneys, Deputy Federal Public Defenders Rebecca Harris and David Menninger, mentioned they had been happy the jury exonerated their consumer.

“We thank the jurors for his or her service as an important backstop towards prosecutorial overreach in our constitutional system,” they mentioned in an announcement to The Instances.

Throughout the trial, the protection attorneys argued that the regulation enforcement automobile was blocking the driveway to the complicated and their consumer had moved it across the nook — only one block away. They mentioned that the automobile was returned inside 13 minutes.

In a Sept. 2 assertion on X, First Assistant U.S. Legal professional Invoice Essayli mentioned Nunez had been arrested for “overtly towing an [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] automobile.”

“Apparently he thought it could be humorous to intrude with our immigration enforcement operations,” Essayli mentioned. “Now he can giggle behind bars whereas he faces justice.”

Martinez was arrested on suspicion of being a Colombian citizen dwelling in Los Angeles illegally. Division of Homeland Safety spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin mentioned Martinez had been convicted of driving below the affect in Los Angeles and had entered the nation illegally in 2022, however was launched.

Martinez’s lawyer, Carlos Jurado, couldn’t be instantly reached for remark Friday. He beforehand instructed ABC7 that his consumer believes she was focused as a result of she was utilizing her platform to doc ICE raids and arrests in Los Angeles.

Recordings by witnesses confirmed officers dragging her out of her automobile by her legs and arms earlier than handcuffing her on the concrete ground.

Authorities in an affidavit alleged that Nunez pressed the passenger’s aspect door of Martinez’s automobile towards a regulation enforcement officer as officers had been struggling to arrest her.

Officers then threatened to arrest Nunez and he allegedly swore at them and mentioned “one thing was going to occur” to them, based on the affidavit.

Then, one other man approached the officers in an alleged try to intrude within the arrest.

Whereas the officers had been distracted, Nunez used his tow truck to tow a authorities automobile, with its emergency lights flashing, out of the storage, based on the affidavit. The automobile had its keys inside and a firearm locked inside a secure.

The not responsible verdict is the most recent in a string of trial losses in federal courtroom instances tied to immigration arrests and protests. There have been three current not responsible verdicts delivered to defendants accused of assaulting federal brokers.

A Instances investigation in July discovered that the aggressive pursuit of federal expenses towards individuals protesting immigration enforcement in Southern California has led to weak instances being rejected quite a few instances by grand juries.

Instances employees writers Ruben Vives and David Zahniser contributed to this report.