We need the same ruling for the Ares Armor Raid.
Via Guns
A federal judge in California dismissed a case resulting from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ investigation this month stating that the government “created the fictitious crime from whole cloth.”
U.S. District Court Judge Manuel Real heard the case involving Randy Garmon, Arturo Cortez, and Rene Flores, which included an alleged plot to rob a drug supplier’s ‘stash house,’ as USA Today reported.
However, the house in question was the site of an ATF sting and the alleged robbers’ contact and getaway car liaison was an undercover ATF agent.
All three plead guilty after their arrest in September and were awaiting sentencing from Real, who instead, dismissed the case.
According to court transcripts, the three defendants had been recruited by confidential informants, who were given $8,600 to “convince citizens to join the government’s scheme,” in Judge Reals’ words.
He further pointed out that none of the three men had a history of being involved in matters concerning guns, tax violations, or liquor that would have brought them under the ATF’s scrutiny. This was described by the federal judge in court as,” trolling poor neighborhoods to ensure and ensnare its poor citizens.”
Judge Real dismissed the U.S Attorney’s case against the three men, “for the government’s outrageous conduct,” and ordered their release in the May 12 hearing. He found that, in his opinion, there had been no crime to charge them with in the first place.
“The government created the fictitious crime from whole cloth,” said Real.
“The government provided the location to the plan of the fictitious crime where undercover ATF Agent Carr insisted on running through a script to ensure a conspiracy had been hatched and that Carr also provided the getaway car with the fictitious conspiracy,” he explained.
The U.S. Attorney’s office filed an emergency protective notice of appeal with the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals in the case, stating that the three individuals were flight risks. The 9th Circuit approved that notice and all three remain in custody while the appeal is considered and is expected this fall.