A federal judge has thrown out criminal charges against a social media figure shot by ICE goons, after finding the government violated his constitutional rights before his case ever reached a jury.
U.S. District Judge Fernando M. Olguin dismissed the indictment against Carlitos Ricardo Parias, finding that federal authorities deprived him of meaningful access to counsel while holding him in ICE detention and failed to meet discovery obligations, including the timely production of body-worn camera footage of the messy detention.
The shooting occurred in October when federal agents attempted to arrest Parias, a well-known TikTok streamer who posts local breaking news. Authorities alleged he rammed his car into agents’ vehicles after they boxed him in.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin previously claimed that Parias had “weaponized his vehicle.”
In response, an ICE officer opened fire, striking Parias in the arm and accidentally injuring a deputy U.S. marshal with a ricocheting bullet.
Despite being shot, it was Parias who was charged the same day with assault on a federal officer, and a grand jury indicted him in November.
Body camera footage later produced shows an ICE officer breaking Parias’ car window while holding a gun, as Parias raises his hands and asks why he is being detained. At the time of the shooting, the car did not appear to be moving.
“Oh,” the officer said after firing. “F---.” “Who shot?” someone asks in the clip. “I shot, I shot,” the officer responded.
Judge Olguin dismissed the indictment with prejudice, barring prosecutors from refiling the charges. He found that ICE’s decision to detain Parias at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, more than two hours from his lawyers, effectively blocked access to counsel in the weeks leading up to trial.
“Because the deprivation of Mr. Parias’s access to counsel during the critical period prior to his trial caused him actual and threatened prejudice, and because no other remedy could adequately cure his deprivation, the court agrees with defendant that dismissal of the indictment is warranted,” Olguin wrote.
The judge also faulted the government for producing discovery nearly a month late and continuing disclosures past court deadlines, worsening the prejudice to the defense.
Parias’ attorneys said they were unable to secure a single legal visit with their client after his transfer to ICE custody, despite the impending trial date. Olguin wrote that ICE placed “obstacles and roadblocks” that made attorney access “difficult, if not impossible.”
Although the criminal case has been dismissed, Parias, allegedly in the country illegally, remains in ICE custody as his immigration proceedings continue.
A representative from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles told the Daily Beast: “We strongly disagree with the court’s version of the facts as well as its legal conclusions. We are reviewing the court’s decision and we will determine our options for an appeal.”
“No matter what happens with his criminal case now or on appeal, rest assured that Mr. Parias’s days of openly flouting our nation’s immigration laws are over.”
In a lengthy statement, DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin repeated her assertion that “the illegal alien weaponized his vehicle,” adding that the gunshots were “defensive.”
She added that both Parias and the officer hit by a ricocheting bullet are in hospital awaiting surgery. “Homeland Security Investigations is perusing criminal charges for assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal law enforcement,” she added.
“These are the consequences of conduct and rhetoric by sanctuary politicians and activists who urge illegal aliens to resist arrest. Resisting arrest puts the safety of illegal aliens, law enforcement, and the public at risk. Our law enforcement officers are facing a more than 1000% increase in assaults against them including vehicle rammings by illegal aliens. We are once again calling on sanctuary politicians, agitators, and the media to turn the temperature down and stop calling for violence and resistance against ICE law enforcement.”
