CRIMINAL CHARGES COMPLICATED

Legal experts say criminal cases against federal agents in other states are rare but have occurred for decades. Craig Futterman, who is the founder and director of the Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project at the University of Chicago School of Law, said such prosecutions are complicated.

Federal agents facing state criminal charges will usually argue they’re immune under federal laws that protect agents who are carrying out their duties and acting within the scope of their authority, leading to a “long and drawn out process.”

There are several state statutes that could be relevant to the investigation in Maine, Futterman said, including laws against homicide, manslaughter and battery.

In Colorado, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent was charged in April with assault, after video showed the agent confronted a demonstrator outside a federal facility and threw her down.

The woman was protesting the detention of a father and two kids who were going to school. ICE arrested the father, who had no criminal record, when they mistook him for someone else.

Read more at Portland Press Herald