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In the movies, the bad guys always fear “the feds.” For good reason. For generations, U.S. law enforcement officers tended to bring only the most ironclad cases to trial. And the assistant United States attorneys who prosecuted the beefs, were almost always super-Type-A lawyers known for putting people away.
So it’s nothing short of extraordinary that the feds have been taking a serious whoopin’ in recent months in Southern California’s main federal courts, in cases alleging assaults or interference with immigration enforcement agents. The feds have gone 0-6 in cases that have come to trial since last September. That’s a virtually unheard of losing streak, considering that only 1% of federal criminal defendants nationwide were acquitted in the latest available annual statistics from the federal judiciary.
L.A. Times reporter Brittny Mejia wrote recently about how the public defenders office in L.A. pulled off this winning streak and what it tells us. The bottom line: Juries have not found cases brought by Trump’s justice department credible. That incredulity seems to extend to the man who became the public face of the raids, Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino.
The case against a protester accused of assault
In September, the feds charged protester Brayan Ramos-Brito with striking a Border Patrol agent. Bovino appeared as the lone agency official testifying about the alleged assault. It likely didn’t help Bovino’s credibility when, on cross-examination, federal public defender Cuauhtémoc Ortega asked about a previous misconduct investigation in which Bovino received a reprimand for referring to undocumented immigrants as “scum, filth and trash.” (Bovino argued that he made the comment about “a specific individual, not about undocumented peoples” in general.)
The jury only needed a little over an hour to find Ramos-Brito not guilty. “I personally thought, OK, these cases are going to be difficult for the government to win, if top ICE brass is testifying and it’s not credible enough for a jury,” said Ortega, the public defender.
Much of The Times’ account of the public defender’s winning streak against federal prosecutors focused on Rebecca Abel and Kyra Nickell, the deputy public defenders who won an acquittal for Isaias Lopez. He’s a 28-year-old who said he only pushed an officer in self-defense, after he had his camera shoved back in his chest during a protest.
A federal prosecutor insisted that the photographer/protester was intent on “getting even” with federal agents who angered him during a protest outside the Metropolitan Detention Center. Defense attorneys countered that Lopez merely defended himself, after the agent lashed out because he “could not stand being photographed, could not stand when someone did not immediately bend to his will.”
Federal prosecutors lose six cases in a row
After hours of deliberation, jurors voted to acquit Lopez. He hugged his attorneys. His mother wept. The win pushed the federal prosecutors to 0-6, a performance they declined to talk to The Times’ Mejia about.
To be sure, not every protester has been an innocent. At least one of them hurled a Molotov cocktail at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies. Others threw cinder blocks at federal officers. As of early this month, the U.S. attorney’s office said 23 people had pleaded guilty to assault, impeding and other charges. Another 23 have had charges dismissed.
Stephen Miller, the Santa Monica product and deputy chief of staff to Trump, used a social media post to blame the losses on “mass judge and jury nullification, deep in blue territory, of slam-dunk assault cases against federal law enforcement.”
But Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who teaches at Loyola Law School, suggested the fault lies elsewhere, telling Mejia: “Continuing to charge crimes that result in acquittal is like banging your head against a wall and doesn’t make anything better or safer, and you have to ask: Why?”
Today’s top stories
In January 2025, Margaret Martin sits outside her west Altadena home that was built by her husband, Henry.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
California launches a civil rights probe into botched evacuations in historically Black Altadena
Cedars-Sinai didn’t act on four decades of complaints about a gynecologist’s abuse, lawsuits allege
- Hundreds of former patients have accused Barry Brock of sexually abusing them while they were in his care.
- More than a dozen say that Cedars-Sinai personnel ignored their complaints, according to lawsuits.
- Cedars-Sinai terminated Brock’s privileges in 2024 after patient complaints, and will not disclose whether it was aware of any previous reports against him.
Rejecting science, Trump reverses conclusion that climate change is harming Americans
- In one of the biggest environmental rollbacks in U.S. history, the Trump administration has repealed the 2009 endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, eliminating the foundation of much of U.S. climate policy.
- The decision reverses decades of environmental progress despite overwhelming scientific evidence and opposition from health experts, environmental groups, 50 cities and nearly two dozen states.
- Experts warn the repeal will increase pollution, respiratory disease and planet-warming emissions over the coming decades.
What else is going on
Commentary and opinions
This morning’s must read
Other must reads
For your downtime
(Gwen Huerta/For The Times)
Going out
Staying in
And finally … your photo of the day
Wunmi Mosaku glows on the beige carpet.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Today’s great photo is from Times photographer Allen J. Schaben on the beige carpet at the annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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