DA to appeal dismissal of charges against man detained by ICE

Local News

Judge Mark Summerville dropped the charges due to prosecutorial misconduct, alleging that the DA’s office knew that ICE would detain him.

Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said he won’t bring criminal contempt charges against the federal immigration agent who detained a man facing criminal charges mid-trial.

Hayden will also appeal the dismissal of the charges against Wilson Martell-Lebron, 49, who faced two felony charges from 2020 related to filing a false application for a driver’s license.

After Martell-Lebron was detained during his ongoing jury trial, Boston Municipal Court Judge Mark Summerville dropped the charges due to prosecutorial misconduct, alleging that the DA’s office knew ICE would detain Martell-Lebron during his trial.

ICE alleges that Martell-Lebron is really named Juan Carlos Baez and is originally from the Dominican Republic. He allegedly entered the U.S. illegally in 2000, ICE said. His lawyer, Murat Erkan, told Boston.com that those allegations would have been addressed with a jury trial, which was cut short when ICE “kidnapped” the defendant.

Hayden sharply criticized ICE earlier this month, accusing the federal agency of undermining public safety in Boston. He said he could seek criminal contempt charges against the federal agents for arresting Martell-Lebron.

U.S. Attorney Leah Foley fired back, filing a motion to vacate the order of contempt and sending Hayden a letter that said he had no legal basis for seeking those charges. A federal judge then dropped the contempt case against the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, Brian Sullivan. 

Now, the DA’s office has released a 10-page fact finding report in line with Foley’s comments, agreeing that Summerville’s contempt against the ICE agent “was without adequate factual or legal basis and is barred by the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,” which prioritizes federal law over conflicting state laws.

Summerville also did not properly file a writ of habeas corpus, an order to bring Martell-Lebron to court, which ICE would have honored, Hayden claims. 

“In reality, Judge Summerville himself also prevented the defendant from being
present at his trial by refusing to issue a writ of habeas corpus for the defendant
after he was taken into ICE custody,” Hayden wrote. “Therefore, the factual basis for his finding of contempt was flawed.”

While the DA can’t prosecute Sullivan, Hayden’s office writes, the arrest of Martell-Lebron after his trial began was still “unprofessional,” “unnecessary,” and “is contrary to the interests of justice.”

Hayden appeals dismissal of charges filed in Boston Municipal Court

Hayden’s report reasserts that his office did not collaborate with ICE to detain Martell-Lebron. Previously, Massachusetts State Police confirmed in a statement that troopers knew ICE intended to detain Martell-Lebron during the proceeding.

During the trial, a state trooper testified that Sullivan had emailed prosecutor Jack Lucy about the plan to detain Martell-Lebron, while the DA’s office said that its prosecutors were not made aware.

In his recent report, Hayden said the assigned prosecutors “were found to have acted ethically.” While Summerville said that prosecutors have an “‘ethical obligation’” to inform the court of potential ICE actions, Hayden said, the judge has “never articulated the source of this ‘ethical obligation.’”

“As these findings make clear, our Assistant District Attorneys had no knowledge of ICE’s timing regarding the arrest,” Hayden said in a statement. “They acted ethically, responsibly, and professionally throughout this matter, and took all proper steps to secure the defendant’s return to the courtroom.”

Erkan said the DA’s report asks the public to “delete from its knowledge any memory of the sworn testimony of the government’s own star witness,” referring to the state trooper.

“The district attorney is gaslighting the public once again,” Erkan said. “It’s to me another lost opportunity for Kevin Hayden to earn back the public’s trust by being self reflective and honest about his own office’s wrongdoing, making amends and engaging in some form of course corrections. It’s the same old approach that’s showing me that lessons are not being learned.”

Molly Farrar is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on education, politics, crime, and more.