EVERETT, Wash. — A hearing is underway Monday morning in Snohomish County Superior Court for a motion to dismiss the case of a man charged with killing a Washington State Patrol trooper in March 2024
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Defense attorneys allege that prosecutors violated the state’s sanctuary laws by “colluding” with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the weeks after charges were filed against 33-year-old Raul Benitez-Santana.
PHOTOS: Images from the case
Benitez-Santana is accused of driving drunk and crashing into the back of a state patrol cruiser on Interstate 5 near Marysville in March 2024. Trooper Christopher Gadd, 27, was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car and died in the collision.
Investigators allege Benitez-Santana was going over 100 mph at the time of the crash.
The trial was scheduled to begin last week, but it was postponed while the court considers the last-minute motion filed by the defense last Tuesday.
RELATED | Defense claims prosecutors ‘colluded’ with ICE in case of man charged with killing trooper
Defense attorneys Tiffany Mecca and Emily Hancock allege a staffer in the Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office engaged in “outrageous government misconduct” by asking ICE officials in Seattle if they could put a detainer on Benitez-Santana ahead of a court hearing last spring where he was asking for a reduced bail.
Benitez-Santana is a citizen of Mexico and was in the U.S. illegally at the time he was arrested for Gadd’s death. ICE placed an immigration detainer on him within a week of when he was booked into the Snohomish County jail for charges of vehicular homicide.
Mecca and Hancock allege that the publicity of his immigration status has prejudiced the potential jury pool against Benitez Santana.
“The accusation against Mr. Benitez-Santana includes the charged question of whether a Latino man, who has been maligned by the media, the public, and elected officials, as an undocumented Mexican criminal, unlawfully caused the death of a police officer,” the defense motion states. “The state reasonably should have known that including information about the client’s immigration status in a publicly filed court document would result in its dissemination to the public and could materially prejudice the adjudicative process.”
What happens next?
A hearing was ordered with Judge Karen Moore in Snohomish County Superior Court for Monday morning to address the defense’s motion to dismiss the case.
If the motion is denied, a jury trial is scheduled to start the following day. Prosecutors are expected to file a motion responding to the defense’s allegations before Monday’s hearing.
