ICE officer pleads not guilty to lying to FBI about Minneapolis shooting
ICE officer Christian Castro pleaded not guilty in St. Paul to six federal counts of making false statements to the FBI about a nonfatal Minneapolis shooting.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges that he lied to the FBI about being attacked before he shot and wounded a Venezuelan man during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Christian Castro entered the Warren E. Burger Federal Building in St. Paul, Minnesota, for the hearing before a U.S. magistrate judge. Prosecutors indicted him this month on six federal counts of making false statements in connection with the January 14 shooting of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis.
The federal appearance came a day after Castro was released from custody following a separate appearance in state court on assault charges. His defense attorney, Daniel Gerdts, declined to comment on the case as he left the courthouse on Friday.
The proceedings followed months of legal and political disputes over whether Castro, 52, would be extradited from his home state of Texas to face charges in Minnesota. He ultimately returned on his own after being released from a Texas jail last month.