Court Forces Disclosure in Minneapolis Shooting Case as Questions Mount Over Actions of Jonathan Ross

The government hid every piece of evidence from the killing of Renee Good. A federal judge just said hand it over.
Renee Good was shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on January 7 in Minneapolis. She was sitting in her car. She was an American citizen. A poet. A mother. She committed no crime. And for three months, the federal government has refused to release a single piece of evidence about how she died.
They removed Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension from the investigation. They blocked state investigators from accessing any materials.
They refused to identify Ross publicly until news outlets did their own investigations. A high-ranking White House official personally overruled ICE’s own initial agreement to cooperate with a use-of-force investigation.
They didn’t just cover it up. They built a wall around the cover-up.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan tore a hole in that wall. He ordered federal prosecutors to turn over Ross’s complete personnel and training files, all statements Ross made in the 60 minutes before and during the shooting, witness statements, body-worn camera footage, cell phone data, medical records related to Ross’s fitness for duty, and DHS and ICE use-of-force policies. They have three weeks.
“This judge is effectively doing the investigation that the United States has turned its back on,” said Shauna Kieffer, a defense attorney in Minneapolis.
The order came through a side door. Ross was involved in a separate violent incident last June where he attempted to arrest a man during a traffic stop and was dragged by the car.
That man was convicted of assault. His defense attorney argued that evidence from the Good killing could reveal a pattern of reckless behavior by Ross that’s relevant to sentencing. The judge agreed.
If Ross’s conduct is found to have contributed to the earlier incident, the court could reduce the convicted man’s sentence below the guideline range. Meaning the evidence about how Ross killed Renee Good could prove that Ross himself was the problem all along.
The state of Minnesota, led by Attorney General Keith Ellison, is also suing the Trump administration for blocking the state’s own investigation into the shooting. The federal government fought every attempt to get this evidence into the open. A judge just overruled them.
The body camera footage exists. The witness statements exist. The truth about what happened to Renee Good exists. And it’s coming out.

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