A municipal judge has accused the federal government of violating a man’s rights by intervening in a local jury trial.
Last week, Wilson Martell-Lebron appeared in court for a trial over charges that he provided false information on a driver’s license application and forged a document. During a lunch break on Thursday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detained him outside the courthouse. He had been free prior to that.
Boston Municipal Court judge Mark Summerville said in so doing, ICE agent Brian Sullivan violated Wilson Martell-Lebron’s rights to due process and a fair trial.
“The finding of contempt is a consequence of agent Sullivan’s intentional and egregious violations of the defendant’s rights,” Summerville said on Monday.
He referred the case to Suffolk District attorney Kevin Hayden’s office for investigation and potential prosecution. Being held in contempt means Sullivan can could face jail time if the district attorney’s office chooses to prosecute the case. Summerville also dismissed with prejudice the underlying case against Martell-Lebron.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told GBH News that Martell-Lebron’s legal name is Juan Carlos Baez, and he’s originally from the Dominican Republic. An agency spokesperson said he has two drug trafficking convictions and has been living in the country illegally.
Video courtesy of Murat Elkan and Ryan Sullivan of Erkan & Sullivan, PC
Murat Erkan, Martell-Lebron’s defense attorney, called judge Summerville’s actions “extraordinary.”
“I think that judges are extremely careful about casting blame that affect the integrity of the government or government agents,” he said, saying it was the first time in his 26-year career he had seen such a thing.
“In this case, obviously, we contend that Judge Summerville had an ample basis to make that referral,” said Erkan.
Martell-Lebron is now detained at Plymouth County’s ICE detention center, according to his attorney.
On what was supposed to be the second day of the trial on Friday, Summerville instead sought to find out who knew about ICE’s detention and when. A state trooper testified that prosecutors Jack Lucy and Matt Liber were told the federal agency intended to detain him.
On Monday, Summerville found two state police troopers were aware of ICE’s plans and violated Martell-Lebron’s rights, but didn’t hold them in contempt.
James Borghesani, a spokesperson for the Suffolk district attorney’s office, said the office was unaware of the plan to detain Martell-Lebron.
“We were dismayed and surprised when our prosecution of [Wilson] Martell-Lebron was interrupted by ICE apprehending him in the middle of our case,” said Borghesani. He said as soon as the office was made aware of the detention, it contacted ICE and requested Martell-Lebron’s return to court. “We filed a motion this morning requesting that the court also demand his appearance.”
The office still intends to try Martell-Lebron.
“Federal authorities should not have detained him and interfered with our efforts to hold him accountable,” said Borghesani.
