2026-03-10T17:27:00-0400 / CBS新闻
据多位知情人士向哥伦比亚广播公司新闻透露，美国司法部民权司专门负责过度使用武力案件的普通职业联邦检察官未参与对两名联邦特工枪杀亚历克斯·普雷蒂的调查。
几位消息人士表示，民权司负责人指定了部门就业诉讼科的律师布兰登·沃布洛斯基——此人没有处理联邦刑事案件的经验——与明尼阿波利斯美国检察官办公室的两名当地检察官合作开展调查。
该办公室负责处理涉及工作场所歧视的民事调查和诉讼。
此次普雷蒂调查中，民权司刑事部门的职业一线检察官普遍不参与调查，这与历史惯例形成鲜明对比，可能引发人们对此次调查未被严肃对待的担忧。
“我们的民主建立在法治之上，法治的一个重要组成部分是对政府行为进行可靠、独立的调查，”前民权司刑事部门检察官、现州民主中心高级法律顾问兼法治主任山姆·特佩尔表示。
她补充道：“民权司有经验丰富的职业检察官，他们是调查过度使用武力案件（包括联邦特工枪击事件）的专家。而此次却绕过他们，指派一名就业歧视律师，这表明本届政府并不重视进行公正全面的调查。”
2026年1月24日，移民行动期间，ICU护士亚历克斯·普雷蒂在明尼阿波利斯被两名美国海关和边境保护局特工枪杀。此次遇袭视频在网上疯传，与美国国土安全部早期声称普雷蒂挥舞枪支的说法相矛盾。
这起死亡事件是今年明尼阿波利斯联邦官员第二次枪杀美国公民：此前，一名移民和海关执法局特工在Renee Good试图驾车逃离时将其枪杀。
最初，美国国土安全部牵头调查其特工对普雷蒂的行为，尽管部长克里斯蒂·诺姆早些时候公开指责普雷蒂“从事国内恐怖主义活动”并谎称他伸手去拿枪。
然而，在压力越来越大的情况下，国土安全部和副司法部长托德·布兰奇于1月底宣布，联邦调查局和民权司将对普雷蒂的死亡展开调查。
布兰奇在1月30日的新闻发布会上表示：“美国司法部民权司拥有世界上最优秀的专家，他们已经处理这类案件数十年。因此，我期望调查将在这些专业范围内进行。”
司法部发言人证实沃布洛斯基已被指派负责此案，但也表示刑事部门代理助理司法部长罗伯特·基南也参与其中。
基南是加州中区美国检察官办公室的长期职业检察官，去年被指派到民权司高级领导团队，隶属于助理司法部长哈米特·迪隆麾下。
据了解，基南曾参与处理多起执法人员过度使用武力的高调案件，包括一名前警察因导致布雷娜·泰勒被枪杀的拙劣突袭案被定罪。
司法部发言人表示：“民权司认真对待每一起调查，因此像布兰登·沃布洛斯基和罗伯特·基南这样经验丰富的职业检察官参与了此次特别调查。”
沃布洛斯基未回应置评请求。
一名司法部高级官员上周拒绝将此次调查定性为“法律名义下的权利剥夺”案件——这是民权司在执法人员涉嫌过度使用武力案件中常用的指控。该官员称，此次调查更像是让调查人员“深入了解”发生了什么。
民权司历史惯例
尽管明尼苏达州美国检察官办公室已指派两名当地职业检察官参与普雷蒂调查，但此类案件通常由民权司刑事部门联合调查和起诉。
根据司法部手册，普雷蒂案因涉及法律名义下的侵权并导致死亡，将被视为“国家利益”相关案件。
多年来，民权司刑事部门处理了多起涉及警察过度使用武力的全国性高调案件，包括前明尼阿波利斯警察德里克·肖文（Derek Chauvin）因乔治·弗洛伊德谋杀案被起诉，以及路易斯维尔警察在布雷娜·泰勒枪击案中的刑事责任。
肖文案的法律名义下侵权指控由民权司刑事部门与几名当地美国助理检察官联合处理，其中一名检察官今年离职——就在司法部高层阻止检察官和FBI特工对ICE特工枪杀Renee Good的案件展开民权调查之后不久。
据几位消息人士透露，目前负责普雷蒂案的两名当地检察官相对年轻——与该办公室大多数人员一样——处理枪支、毒品到儿童剥削等各类案件。
消息人士称，他们对待案件认真负责，但可能不负责最终决策。
据哥伦比亚广播公司新闻报道，民权司刑事部门目前约有10名检察官，而近年该部门检察官数量约为30人，因提前退休、调任或转至其他工作而减少。
司法部发言人表示，总共有约21名职业律师，但几位消息人士称，其中一些律师担任顾问，不直接起诉刑事案件。
该部门新任负责人凯蒂·内夫职业生涯中从未担任联邦检察官，她曾在加州多个地方检察官办公室任职，最近还在田纳西州总检察长办公室工作（该办公室不处理刑事案件）。根据其LinkedIn资料，她在成为律师前曾是一名记者。
她在该部门长期职业负责人接受2月中旬生效的提前退休计划后接任。
包括基南和奥兰多·索尼扎在内的其他几位领导人最近被指派起诉记者唐·莱蒙（Don Lemon）和另外38人，因其1月在双城教堂参与反ICE抗议活动。
根据沃布洛斯基的LinkedIn资料，他于8月加入司法部就业诉讼科，此前曾在共和党控制的弗吉尼亚州总检察长办公室工作。
在州检察长办公室工作之前，他还曾在弗吉尼亚州的萨福克和朴茨茅斯县办公室担任一线检察官。
据前部门律师称，他在12月被提升为就业诉讼科代理副主管，这一时间线前所未有——尤其是对于没有民权诉讼背景的人而言。
他目前是起诉明尼阿波利斯公立学校的首席律师，指控该学区通过与教师工会签约，在就业决策中给予“黑人教师、有色人种教师和‘代表性不足’教师优先待遇”，涉嫌种族、肤色、性别和国籍歧视。
学区已请求联邦法官驳回诉讼，称其未提供“系统性歧视行为的任何证据”。
他还代表弗吉尼亚州处理一名被定罪强奸犯的案件，该犯声称州政府因拒绝提供DNA生物证据而侵犯其宪法正当程序权利，此案后来达成和解。
前部门律师、非营利倡导组织“司法连接”创始人斯泰西·杨表示：“民权司仍有具备深厚调查背景的职业律师。忽视这些专家而指定几乎无相关专业知识的律师负责部门最受关注的民权调查之一，表明司法部领导层无意追求真正的问责。”
乔纳·卡普兰对本报道有贡献。
DOJ’s Alex Pretti shooting probe excludes prosecutors who specialize in civil rights cases, sources say
2026-03-10T17:27:00-0400 / CBS News
The rank-and-file career federal prosecutors at the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division who specialize in excessive force cases are not playing any role in the investigation into the shooting death of Alex Pretti by two federal agents, multiple sources with knowledge of the matter told CBS News.
Instead, the head of the Civil Rights Division tapped Brandon Wrobleski — a lawyer from inside the division’s employment litigation section who has no previous experience handling federal criminal cases — to work with two local prosecutors in the Minneapolis U.S. Attorney’s office on the probe, several of the sources said.
That office handles civil investigations and litigation involving discrimination in the workplace.
The general lack of involvement by career line prosecutors in the Civil Rights Division’s criminal section in the Pretti investigation marks a stark departure from historical practice, and is likely to stoke concern that the probe is not being taken seriously.
“Our democracy was built on the rule of law, and an important element of that is having a credible, independent investigation into government conduct,” said Sam Trepel, a former prosecutor in the Civil Rights Division criminal section who is now the senior counsel and rule of law director at the States United Democracy Center.
“The Civil Rights Division has experienced career prosecutors who are the experts in investigating use of force cases, including shootings by federal agents,” she said. “By bypassing them and assigning an employment discrimination attorney, it just shows that this administration isn’t serious about conducting a fair and comprehensive investigation.”
ICU nurse Alex Pretti was shot dead by two U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Minneapolis during an immigration operation on Jan. 24. Video of the encounter went viral and contradicted early claims by the Department of Homeland Security that Pretti had brandished a gun.
His death marked the second fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by a federal officer in Minneapolis this year, after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent earlier shot and killed Renee Good as she sought to drive away in her vehicle.
Initially, the Department of Homeland Security took the lead on investigating the conduct of its own agents against Pretti, even as Secretary Kristi Noem made early public statements accusing Pretti of “domestic terrorism” and falsely claiming he had reached for his firearm.
Amid mounting pressure, however, DHS and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in late January announced that the FBI and the Civil Rights Division would be opening a case into Pretti’s death.
“The Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has the best experts in the world at this,” Blanche said at a press conference on January 30. “They’ve been doing it for decades. And so I expect the investigation will proceed with those parameters in mind.”
A Justice Department spokesperson confirmed that Wrobleski had been assigned to the case, but also said that the criminal section’s Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Robert Keenan is involved as well.
Keenan, a longtime federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California, was assigned to a role with the Civil Rights Division’s senior leadership team under Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon last year.
In that role, he has been involved in dismissing or seeking lighter sentences in a handful of high-profile excessive force cases involving law enforcement officers — including one case involving a former police officer who was convicted for his role in the botched raid that led to the shooting death of Breonna Taylor.
“The Civil Rights Division takes every investigation seriously, which is why experienced career prosecutors like Brandon Wrobelski and Robert Keenan are involved in this particular matter,” a department spokesperson said.
Wrobleski did not respond to a request for comment.
A senior Justice Department official last week declined to characterize the probe as a case of deprivation of rights under color of law, a common charge that the Civil Rights Division brings in cases involving alleged excessive force by law enforcement. The official said it was more akin to having investigators “look under the hood” to see what happened.
Historical practice at the Civil Rights Division
Although the U.S. Attorney’s office in Minnesota has assigned two local career prosecutors to the Pretti investigation, cases like this one are customarily jointly investigated and prosecuted by the Civil Rights Division’s criminal section.
Under the Justice Department manual, the Pretti case would be deemed to be a matter in the “national interest” because it involves allegations of a color of law violation that resulted in death.
The Civil Rights Division’s criminal section over the years has handled some of the nation’s most high-profile color of law cases involving excessive force by police. Those include the murder of George Floyd by former Minneapolis Police Department George Floyd and the prosecution of the Louisville Police officers involved in Breonna Taylor’s shooting death.
The color of law case against Chauvin was handled jointly by the Civil Rights Division’s criminal section and several local assistant U.S. attorneys, one of whom quit the office this year, not long after Justice Department leaders prevented prosecutors and FBI agents from pursuing a civil rights investigation into Good’s shooting death at the hands of an ICE agent.
The two local prosecutors assigned now to the Pretti case are relatively junior — as are most of the people who remain in that office — and handle a variety of cases, from guns and drugs to child exploitation, several sources say.
Several sources say they are serious and care about the case, but they are not the ones who will likely be in charge of making decisions.
The criminal section in the Civil Rights Division now has approximately 10 prosecutors, down from about 30 in recent years, amid early retirements, transfers and departures for other jobs, sources tell CBS News.
A Justice Department spokesperson said there are about 21 career attorneys total, though several sources say that some of the lawyers serve as attorney-advisers who do not directly prosecute criminal cases.
The division’s new chief, Katie Neff, has not worked as a federal prosecutor in her career, which has included stints at several local district attorneys’ offices in California and, more recently, with the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, which does not handle criminal prosecutions. Prior to becoming a lawyer, she worked as a journalist, her Linkedin profile shows.
She recently took over the role after the section’s longtime career chief accepted an early retirement package that took effect in mid-February.
Several of its other leaders,including Keenan and Orlando Sonza, were recently assigned to prosecute journalist Don Lemon and 38 others for their role in an anti-ICE protest at a church in Twin Cities in January.
Wrobleski, according to his Linkedin profile, joined the Justice Department’s employment litigation section in August, after working most recently in the Republican-controlled Virginia Attorney General’s office.
Before working in the state attorney general’s office, he was also line prosecutor in the Suffolk and Portsmouth county offices in Virginia.
He was promoted as the employment litigation section’s acting deputy chief by December, a timeframe that former division lawyers say is unheard of — especially for someone without a background in civil rights litigation.
He is currently the lead attorney in litigation against the Minneapolis Public Schools, alleging the district is discriminating against teachers based on their race, color, sex, and national origin by contracting with a teacher’s union “to provide black teachers, teachers of color, and ‘underrepresented’ teachers preferential treatment in employment decisions.”
The district has asked a federal judge to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it fails to allege “any proof of systematic discriminatory conduct.”
He also represented Virginia in a case filed by a convicted rapist who claimed the state violated his constitutional due process rights by denying him access to DNA biological evidence.
The case was later settled.
“The Civil Rights Division still has career attorneys with a deep background in these investigations,” said Stacey Young, a former division attorney who founded the nonprofit advocacy group Justice Connection.
“Ignoring them and designating attorneys with little if any relevant expertise to run one of the department’s highest-profile civil rights investigations shows DOJ leadership has no intention of pursuing any real accountability.”
Jonah Kaplan contributed to this report.
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