BOSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took a man into custody in the middle of his criminal trial last week, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.
“We have been instrumental to Boston becoming one of safest cities in the nation by pursuing ethical prosecutions that hold offenders accountable and treat victims with dignity,” a spokesperson for the DA’s office said. “We were dismayed and surprised when our prosecution of William Martell-Lebron was interrupted by ICE apprehending him in the middle of our case.”
The DA’s office said it contacted ICE as soon as it learned about Martell-Lebron’s detention and filed a motion requesting that the court demand his appearance at trial.
“Any claim that we were aware of an attempt to prevent Mr. Martell Lebron from exercising his right to a trial is false. It was and still is our intention to try Mr. Martell-Lebron and hold him accountable for the crimes alleged in the complaint,” the DA’s office explained. “Federal authorities should not have detained him and interfered with our efforts to hold him accountable.”
Martell-Lebron appeared Thursday in Boston’s Edward W. Brooke Courthouse for the first day of his trial on charges that he provided false information on a license application, The Boston Globe reported.
Defense attorney Murat Erkan told the newspaper that plainclothes ICE agents detained Martell-Lebron as he left the court, placed him in an unmarked SUV, and drove away.
“Our position is that this is obstructing justice,” Erkan told the Globe.
A hearing on what authorities knew about the detention is scheduled for Monday.
Boston 25 News has reached out to ICE for comment on the matter.
The detainment of Martell-Lebron comes just days after six federal agents, with their faces covered, approached Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk on a Somerville street, took her into custody, and rushed her to an ICE Processing Center in Basile, Louisiana.
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