Local DC cases are landing in federal courts. A judge says the results are problematic

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Citing “the most illegal search I have ever seen in my life,” a magistrate judge is upbraiding the federal government for the way it has handled arrests in the District of Columbia this month and says the possible effects — violations of rights and the potential for illicit detentions — are not legally acceptable.

“We don’t just charge people criminally, throw them in the jail for a few weeks and then bring them in here and say, ‘Oops, my bad,’” Judge Zia Faruqui said from the bench Monday. “I have never ever in my life seen something close to the illegality of this search.”

He spoke during a series of hearings this week for people who landed in federal courtrooms on the direction of the Justice Department on charges that, in most jurisdictions, would be handled by local authorities.

Over a very odd two weeks, hundreds have been arrested since President Donald Trump’s crime crackdown flooded the nation’s capital with federal agents and troops. What’s happening to them after their arrests is alarming many defense attorneys — and at least one judge — as the cases stack up in federal courtrooms.

Some people facing nonviolent charges have remained jailed for days in Washington while waiting for their initial court appearances. Their lawyers believe the government is prosecuting lower-level cases that are typically handled by local authorities and don’t belong in federal court — or any court.

The White House says over 1,000 people have been arrested since the operation started Aug. 7. They’re facing a wide range of charges, including assaulting law-enforcement officers and illegal possession of drugs and firearms. Nearly half of the arrests are for immigration cases, according to one list circulated by law enforcement.

Approximately 20 people arrested during surge-related patrols have been charged in federal district court, according to an Associated Press review of court records. Many other cases are going to D.C. Superior Court, which handles less serious local offenses.

One case has already been dropped

Federal prosecutors already have dropped a case amid complaints that the man was illegally searched.

Torez Riley was walking toward a Trader Joe’s in Washington last Monday when he was followed by a team of police officers and federal agents on patrol. The officers said they followed him into the store and found two unregistered guns inside his satchel. Riley was charged with being a felon in possession of firearms.

During a hearing Monday, Magistrate Judge Faruqui said he was “absolutely flabbergasted” that Riley was jailed for a week before prosecutors elected to drop the case. Faruqui, a former prosecutor, said it appears that the officers stopped Riley, a Black man, solely because his satchel appeared to be weighed down by something heavy.

“It is without a doubt the most illegal search I have ever seen in my life,” Faruqui said, according to a transcript. “A high school student would know that this was an illegal search.”

Defense attorney Elizabeth Mullin said Riley shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place.

“They didn’t have probable cause or reasonable suspicion. They just stopped him because he was walking into a Trader Joe’s getting something to eat after work,” Mullin said during an interview.

On Monday, a prosecutor from U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said they decided that dropping the case against Riley was “in the interest of justice” after reviewing the case in greater depth. A spokesperson for Pirro’s office said she ordered the case’s dismissal after she saw video footage captured by police body cameras.

Faruqui made it clear Monday that he believes Pirro’s office mishandled Riley’s case.

“I have not seen a search that even remotely comes close to this. This would not pass muster for a first-year law school hypothetical exam to give both sides. It is blatantly illegal,” he said.

The magistrate judge’s rebuke drew a sharp response from Pirro, a former Fox News host whom Trump appointed in May.

“This judge has a long history of bending over backwards to release dangerous felons in possession of firearms, and on frequent occasions, he has downplayed the seriousness of felons who possess illegal firearms and the danger they pose to our community,” Pirro said in a statement.

Judge calls for ‘protection of human dignity’

Faruqui expressed more outrage about the surge’s impact on the city’s criminal justice system during a hearing Tuesday for another case. The defendant, Darious Phillips, was arrested on a gun charge last Thursday and remained in custody five days later. He missed Tuesday’s hearing due to “mental health struggles” in jail, Faruqui said.

“It’s not zero sum. If there is a surge in prosecutions, there has to be a surge in the protection of human dignity,” he said.

Phillips’ attorney, Tezira Abe, said her client is “very obviously a victim of this incursion in D.C.” by federal authorities. “We know how specious these arrests have been lately,” Abe said.

Phillips is due back on court on Wednesday. Prosecutors argued that Phillips, who served a five-year prison sentence for shooting a man at a gas station in 2018, has shown that he remains a danger to the public and should remain in pretrial detention.

Riley wasn’t immediately released from jail because he has an outstanding arrest warrant in Maryland’s Prince George’s County. His lawyer said the arrests can wreak havoc in people’s lives because they’re often jailed for days at a time. She said Riley has three children, so he wasn’t able to pick up his kids for a week.

“If they’re in school, they miss classes. If they have a job, they miss going to work. If they have children, they miss child care pickup,” Mullin said. “It’s just very upsetting, and it doesn’t promote respect for the law.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington is the nation’s largest, but it’s getting outside help: Twenty members of the military’s Judge Advocate General Corps were expected to help Pirro’s office prosecute cases.

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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.