The Court of Public Opinion: Killing Renee Good
Here’s why American jurisprudence matters to Israelis: there are a lot of Israelis who visit America, either as dual citizens, business travelers, or tourists. Entry into the USA is controlled by the Federal Government, primarily through three sub-units of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS): US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS); Customs and Border Protection (CBP); and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Every single person who travels to America will interact with agents of these agencies, one way or another. That’s why it matters.
On January 7th, 2025 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, an ICE officer shot and killed a woman who has since been identified as Renee Nicole Good. The incident was recorded on multiple videos, which (given the nature of the internet and news) have circulated widely. In case you haven’t seen it, here it is (WARNING: GRAPHIC)
Pundits and politicians race to premature judgements in pursuit of clicks and controlling the narrative. But legal analysis and understanding the true significance of this event require calmer, more objective review, so let me tell you how an experienced trial attorney will do that. In the most objective terms possible, the facts are as follows:
Renee Good was driving a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV), and the videos show that in the moments before the shooting, that SUV was stopped while positioned in the middle of the street at about a 45-degree angle across the marked lanes of traffic. It is not yet possible to say the SUV was blocking traffic generally, nor blocking ICE specifically; the videos do not show the conditions when the SUV got into that position, nor who else was there when it arrived, and we certainly cannot know what Ms. Good could see or what she was thinking when she put the car in that position, if she did that intentionally at all (Minnesota is famous for icy roads in winter, in case you’ve never been). Simply and flatly, more information is needed before a conclusion can be reached about the intent of Ms. Good’s driving.
However, we know from subsequent government statements, and we can clearly see in the video, that the SUV Ms. Good was driving was, in fact, in the direct path of several ICE vehicles carrying multiple ICE officers, and we know those officers were on duty, performing their immigration enforcement mission. Further, statements by both Ms. Good’s family and by US Representative Ilhan Omar claim that Ms. Good was acting as a “legal observer” of the ICE enforcement activity, so there is at least some reason to believe she was blocking them on purpose. In other words, there appears to have been “reasonable suspicion” that she was committing the crime of obstructing law enforcement officers, and that is legally significant.
Next, the video shows that multiple ICE officers approach Ms. Good’s SUV car on foot, and we can hear that at least one was verbally ordering her to “get the fuck out of the car.” This establishes that Ms. Good was confronted by a group of armed people who were being aggressive and unprofessional; what we do not know is how many were giving orders, what exact words they were using, whether Ms. Good heard any of the orders, or if any contradictory orders were being given, such as “get out of the car” and “get out of the way.” All together, there is reason to believe that a person in those circumstances could be scared, confused, and overwhelmed, at a moment when compliance might not have been possible due to contradictory commands. I certainly had many cases exactly like that throughout my career in criminal defense in Chicago.
Clearly, Ms. Good did not get out of the SUV; instead, the front wheels of the SUV turn to the driver’s right, and the SUV begins to move forward at slow speed. However, by the time the vehicle made those moves, there were three officers standing close enough to the SUV to be within touching distance of it, and one of the three – a male positioned at the front left corner of the SUV – fires three shots from a handgun at essentially point-blank range, killing Renee Good. From start to finish, the whole incident takes less than 30 seconds. Plainly and clearly, none of the officers were “run over” by the SUV as it moved, if they were impacted at all. None are knocked down, none are ever under the vehicle, none scream out in pain, and all walk away briskly. The SUV rolled or was driven a short distance away, then crashed into parked cars and a tree, where it came to a stop.
Literally from the instant it happened and was witnessed by numerous law-enforcement officers and civilians alike, there has been public anger and heated commentary. Political bias may affect how people see and interpret the critical events, especially given that multiple people in positions of great political power have commented on the overall legality of this incident, including President Trump, and Minnesota officials including Senator Tina Smith, Representatives Ilhan Omar and Betty McCollum, Governor Tim Walz, and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey.
Several legal questions are presented: Can the evidence establish that Ms. Good was blocking the road on purpose? Or intentionally obstructing ICE? Were the ICE orders legal? And of course the biggest one, was the use of deadly force justified?
Enough with the appetizers, let’s get to the meat on the bone: The use of deadly force in self-defense is legally justified when a person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to themselves or others. As anyone who reads the news knows by now, the essential argument for the legality of killing Ms. Good has already been formed: the officer and his defenders claim that Ms. Good used the SUV as a deadly weapon and tried to kill him by using it to strike him. President Trump himself has already said he thinks Ms. Good “viciously ran over the ICE Officer”, while his Secretary of DHS Kristi Noem has labelled Ms. Good’s actions as “domestic terrorism.” https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/what-we-know-so-far-about-the-ice-shooting-in-minneapolis
Whether or not a vehicle is being used as a legally-defined deadly weapon depends on the facts: the courts will consider the speed it was moving and where it was pointed, among other things such as what the driver was saying and doing at the relevant time. Further, any future trial will consider the psychology of the decision to use force, as it may have affected the officer’s ability to think clearly and act reasonably when he killed Ms. Good. As matters of human thought and behavior, it is one frame of mind to begin with the understanding that using deadly force is a last resort that has to be done because there is no other choice; it is a different mindset entirely when use of deadly force is your duty as an officer, in accordance with a thought process that actively looks for facts to meet use-of-force criteria.
One of my favorite law professors taught us that good lawyers predict the future (which we are supposed to be able to do by correctly identifying cases from the past that present closely similar facts and law), so here you go: Among many cases of law enforcement officers shooting people based on driving cars at the officers, there is a frighteningly identical past event that can be seen as an almost exact precedent on the facts of this case, which is the killing of Ta’Kiya Young in Ohio, in 2023. In case you haven’t seen it, here is the video of that shooting (WARNING: GRAPHIC) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zsol57AKM
In that case, the officer was charged with murder, manslaughter, and assault, and was subsequently found NOT GUILTY on all charges.
Now, Minnesota is a different state than Ohio, and the states are distinct legal jurisdictions from the US Federal government. But here is what is going to happen: Minnesota state authorities are going to use local law to charge the ICE Officer with the murder of Renee Good. In response, the Trump administration is going to use Federal law to charge one or more state officials, probably with some kind of conspiracy to obstruct Federal law enforcement.
The resulting legal civil war (“civil lawfare”?) will be seen by some as proof that US federalism is working as intended, while others will cite the conflict as proof that federalism is broken. In the meantime, for anyone going to the USA, it is wise to remember: even if you are an unarmed “observer”, ICE can and will shoot you. Be careful, because dead people don’t get justice.
