Maryland judge declares mistrial in parking dispute shooting that killed 3
Media outlets reported that Anne Arundel Circuit Judge J. Michael Wachs said the prosecutor made 'several transgressions' that tainted the testimony of Charles Robert Smith, who is charged in the shooting.
Smith, who is white, was indicted in July 2023 and charged with six counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of first-degree murder substantially motivated by hate toward Latino people, and other offenses.
There was an alleged argument between Smith's mother and neighbors over a parking space before the fatal shooting in Annapolis. The victims, all Latino, were a father and son, Nicolas Mireles, 55, and Mario Mireles Ruiz, 27; and a family friend, Christian Marlon Segovia Jr., 24. Three others were injured.
The Baltimore Banner reported that Smith's attorney called for a mistrial, saying State's Attorney Anne Colt Leitess mischaracterized evidence and brought up facts the judge ruled to be irrelevant to the case.
Wachs said Leitess violated several rules of evidence and he had 'no choice' but to declare a mistrial.
The case isn't likely to be heard again until 2026, the judge said.
The Capital Gazette reports that Smith is still being held without bond, according to the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office.
In a statement after Wednesday's decision, Leitess said, 'This was a thorough, professional and hard-fought case by the prosecution and defense. The State will try this case again and seek justice for the victims.'
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NBC News
3 hours ago
- NBC News
Los Angeles cancels some July Fourth events amid deportation fears
LOS ANGELES — Some Southern California communities are canceling or rescheduling July Fourth events as immigration arrests spread fear across the region. But organizations that oppose President Donald Trump's immigration policies plan to proceed with protests in downtown Los Angeles, where large demonstrations last month sometimes turned violent, prompting Trump to call in the state National Guard and U.S. Marines over the governor's objections. The city said it would postpone its annual Fourth of July block party 'in light of recent events affecting a portion of Downtown Los Angeles and the ongoing circumstances impacting the region.' The event is held each year in Gloria Molina Grand Park near City Hall and several federal buildings, including one now being used as a detention center that has been a focal point for demonstrations against raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. During a 'No Kings' march on June 14, protesters fled from tear gas, pepper spray and less-lethal munitions fired by law enforcement officers, and large crowds were pushed away from federal buildings and into Grand Park, where demonstrators scrambled up a small hill to safety. More than 1,618 people in Los Angeles have been arrested by the federal government since it began clamping down on residents without citizenship last month, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The detentions have spread fear across Southern California, where some 1.4 million people are estimated to live without full legal authorization, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. Several L.A.-based organizations said they will launch another round of protests Thursday near Grand Park, and a coalition of multifaith organizations, labor unions, activists and artists will hold a 'freedom' car cruise and rally outside City Hall. Later, activists with the group Centro CSO will hold a march outside the federal courthouse, calling for charges to be dropped against Alejandro Orellana, who was arrested in connection with distributing face shields to 'suspected rioters." He faces charges of conspiracy to commit civil disorder and aiding and abetting civil disorders. He was released on bond last month and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon. On Friday, the local chapter of 50501, which organized the 'No Kings' rally, will hold an all-day demonstration outside City Hall to demand an 'end to the occupation' of Los Angeles by ICE, the National Guard and the Marines. 'This isn't a celebration,' the group said in a statement. 'It's a stand.' Smaller communities throughout Los Angeles County with large immigrant populations are also rethinking Fourth of July celebrations. In East Los Angeles, a historically Latino area, the neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights and El Sereno have postponed July Fourth festivities after several high-profile immigration arrests. Federal agents last month rammed and trapped a car carrying four U.S. citizens, including a man, woman and two children, in Boyle Heights. The Department of Homeland Security said its target was Christian Damian Cerno-Camacho, who was arrested in connection with punching an immigration officer. A lawyer representing Cerno-Camacho's family said he is planning to file a lawsuit against the federal government. This week, Boyle Heights activists shut down a bridge that links downtown Los Angeles to the small enclave and marched with mariachis to the site of another recent arrest. Demands for the National Guard to return to normal duties were answered in part this week when 150 members were reassigned to wildfire season preparation. Some 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines remain at federal buildings in Los Angeles while a lawsuit filed by the state against the Trump administration is pending in court. A three-judge appeals court panel has said that the White House likely lawfully exercised its authority when Trump federalized the National Guard without Gov. Gavin Newsom's consent. The ruling halted a lower court's decision, which found the Trump administration had illegally activated the troops. Newsom said last month that he will pursue legal action to regain control of the guard. Lawmakers and legal organizations are waging their own court battles ahead of the holiday weekend. On Wednesday, immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to block an 'ongoing pattern and practice of flouting the Constitution and federal law' during immigration raids in Los Angeles. 'Since June 6th, marauding, masked goons have descended upon Los Angeles, terrorizing our brown communities and tearing up the Constitution in the process,' said Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California. 'No matter their status or the color of their skin," he added, "everyone is guaranteed Constitutional rights to protect them from illegal stops. We will hold DHS accountable.' The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the claims are false. This week, county supervisors approved a motion to pursue legal action against the Trump administration. The vote came after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles over its sanctuary city policies, which prevent local police agencies from voluntarily cooperating with federal immigration enforcement. The U.S. government claims sanctuary city ordinances discriminate against federal law enforcement agencies by treating them differently from other policing authorities.
NBC News
8 hours ago
- NBC News
ICE shut down this Latino market — without even showing up
Immigration Fear of immigration raids pushed the organizers of the Broadacres Marketplace in Las Vegas to temporarily close, shuttering a place at the heart of the city's Latino community. July 3, 2025, 7:00 AM EDT By Denise Chow NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. — On a typical weekend, 20,000 people stream through the metal gates at Broadacres Marketplace, thronging the aisles of the outdoor 'swap meet' to hunt for the best deals, savor snacks and sip micheladas under the desert sky. Until late June, Broadacres' familiar bustle had cemented its place as the heart of this city's Latino community. That has been replaced with an eerie quiet. Hundreds of booths stand barren behind a chain-link fence, mostly stripped to their skeletal remains and covered in fabric or tarp. Save for one security guard at the main gate, there's no one in sight. Broadacres Marketplace announced that it would temporarily close on June 21 because of the threat of raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. In a statement online, the market's management said the decision to close was made 'out of an abundance of caution and concern for our community.' Broadacres' owner, Greg Danz, is president and CEO of Newport Diversified Inc., a company that also owns two other swap meets in California. 'We don't want any of our customers, vendors, or employees to be detained at our business or for us to be a beacon of shopping and entertainment while our federal government is raiding businesses and detaining its people,' the statement read, adding that management does not yet have a planned date to reopen. Over the past six months, the Trump administration has implemented aggressive immigration policies and enforcement, detaining and deporting tens of thousands of people since it took office. The mass deportation efforts have sparked protests nationwide and laid bare how devastating the arrests — and the fear of them — are in cities across the country. After Donald Trump campaigned on the promise to deport swaths of violent criminals, a small fraction of undocumented immigrants in ICE custody are known violent actors. Half of those in detention have neither been convicted nor charged with a crime, according to ICE data. Latinos, in particular, have been a prime target, heightening fears in the community, including among those who have legal status. The only other time in its nearly 50-year history that the swap meet closed for an extended time was for a few months in 2020 during the pandemic, according to two longtime vendors. Rico Ocampo, whose family has been selling goods at Broadacres for more than 20 years, said his parents financially rely on the swap meet. 'As a family, we're facing questions like: What are we going to do about the mortgage payment, with groceries? How are we going to recover from this?' he said. Ocampo, 34, said other vendors are most likely facing the same anxieties, while also managing real fears that they or their loved ones could get swept up in ICE raids. Earlier in June, ICE made arrests at the Santa Fe Spring Swap Meet in Southern California, which is under the same ownership as Broadacres, according to NBC Los Angeles. That has created fears that something similar could play out in Nevada. ICE and DHS have not responded to NBC News' requests for comment on the flea market raids. 'When you hurt local businesses, you hurt the local community,' Ocampo said. 'When people are afraid to go to work or participate in daily life or share in community spaces like Broadacres, the whole community feels it. It's not just undocumented people; it's their children, their families, the customers who rely on those businesses to purchase items.' Assemblymember Cecilia González, D-Las Vegas, who is chair of the Nevada Latino Legislative Caucus, called the Broadacres closure a 'huge disruption.' 'It's an economic emergency for hundreds of entrepreneurs — immigrant and nonimmigrant,' she said, adding that it is happening as the area is also dealing with the rising cost of living and one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Las Vegas isn't alone in grappling with these tensions. Most major cities with big immigrant populations are facing similar issues, including in Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. Broadacres Marketplace opened in 1977 and over the years has evolved from a small weekend flea market into a sprawling hub of shopping, food and live entertainment. The swap meet and its vast parking lot now cover more than 40 acres of land in suburban North Las Vegas. Open Friday through Sunday, Broadacres is a staple in the Latino community, but its popularity extends across the Las Vegas Valley. Of the nearly 2.4 million people who live in Clark County, which includes the cities of Las Vegas and North Las Vegas, 32.1% identify as Hispanic or Latino, according to 2024 data from the U.S. Census Bureau. 'It doesn't matter the color of your skin, it doesn't matter what nationality you are, it doesn't matter how old you are, there's something for you,' said Jessica Vasquez, an artist, photographer and activist who grew up in Las Vegas and has been frequenting Broadacres for more than 40 years. Justin Favela, a 38-year-old artist who was born and raised in Las Vegas, has also been shopping at Broadacres since the 1980s. He said that throughout its history, the swap meet was a place where members of the Latino community felt safe and comfortable. It was also one of the only spots in the Las Vegas area where people could find items from their birth countries. 'Back in the day in Las Vegas, it was really hard to get fresh coconuts or banana leaves or certain fruits and vegetables,' Favela said. 'Whenever it was holiday times, I remember, we would go and stock up on things that my mom couldn't get at the regular grocery store.' As an adult, Favela said, he has been going to Broadacres at least once a month and was most recently there the night before the closure was announced. He recalled feeling something was amiss that Friday evening. Crowds in recent weeks had already been noticeably thinner, Favela said, particularly after the raid at the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet. 'First of all, it was easy to find parking, which is never the case,' Favela said. 'Then when I went in, it was maybe a quarter of the people who are usually there. And there was no live music. I knew something was way off.' Ocampo said he and his family were painfully aware of ICE activity around the country, but the decision to close Broadacres still caught them off-guard. Vendors were not given notice, with staff members allegedly going booth to booth the morning of June 21 to inform people that the market would be closing that day. Broadacres management did not respond to requests for comment.. 'I received a text message from family that morning at around 10 a.m. saying Broadacres was going to close,' Ocampo said. 'I thought the worst. I was thinking: Is there an ICE raid happening? What is going on?' Ocampo's parents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and did not want to publicly disclose their immigration statuses for fear of reprisals, said the images from the California raid hit close to home. The family has lived in the U.S. since 1992. Now, though, in addition to concerns about discrimination and aggressive immigration enforcement, their financial future hangs in the balance. Translating his father's Spanish, Ocampo said not much remains of his parents' booth at Broadacres, where for more than two decades they sold peanuts, pumpkin seeds and various other dry goods. What started as a small peanut stand grew into multiple booths at the swap meet, offering roughly 50 items. One pound of peanuts sold for $3, two pounds for $5, he said. A small wheel of dry cheese marinated in a spicy rub fetched $25, while a larger one sold for $40. His bestseller? A type of squash seed known as semilla pipianera that can be eaten raw or roasted, or ground up to make a green mole. For now, Ocampo's parents are doing what they can to sell their products out of their home. A social media post after the Broadacres closure drummed up some support and sent more than 100 customers to the residence in one day. But relying on social media and word of mouth is unsustainable long term, Ocampo said. Many of his father's ingredients are imported from other states or countries, and he is forced to buy them in large quantities. In the back of the property, a temperature-controlled storage room houses pallets stacked with dozens of 50-pound bags of raw peanuts purchased from Texas. In another corner, giant sacks of pumpkin seeds from Bulgaria are kept dry, ready to be toasted for customers. Baggies of boiled peanuts are kept in an industrial fridge — Ocampo's father said those will be first to go to waste if Broadacres remains closed. The possibility that the swap meet could stay closed indefinitely is devastating, Ocampo said. 'It has left their business, and other immigrant vendors and small-business owners, without the critical income that they need to survive during the busiest sales period,' he said. Beyond adding financial instability, González, the assemblymember, said the Trump administration's immigration policies have used fear to destabilize Latino communities throughout the state. 'Nevada has one of the largest numbers of mixed-status families per capita in the entire country,' she said. 'Many of us know people personally or have family members who have different types of statuses.' González has been vocal in her support for the Broadacres vendors, but for elected officials like her, those statements have come at a price. State Sen. Fabian Doñate, a Democrat whose district includes the Las Vegas Strip, faced major backlash after he engaged in a heated back-and-forth with members of Nevada's Republican Party. The state GOP said June 23 on X about the Broadacres closure: 'If you can't stay open without illegal aliens, you don't deserve to be open at all.' When Doñate responded that Republicans were being 'anti-business' and 'anti-economic development,' the GOP accused him of admitting to having family members who are illegal immigrants, tagging the accounts for ICE, the Department of Homeland Security and its secretary, Kristi Noem, and FBI Director Kash Patel. 'They are trying to distract from the economic crisis that our state is experiencing, and they're not offering solutions,' Doñate said last week of the GOP reaction. 'Instead, they made a personal and direct attack against me and my family.' With no indication of whether, or when, the swap meet will reopen, Ocampo said Broadacres management and local lawmakers could do more to protect vendors and the greater community. 'We want elected officials — especially the ones that represent immigrant communities — to step up to the plate,' Ocampo said. 'I want elected officials to show up for my mother and my father and give us more than tweets, give us more than sentiments or media advisories, because what's happening right now is a threat to Nevada's values, our economy and our families.' Vasquez, the artist and activist who grew up in Las Vegas, said she remains hopeful that the community will bounce back. Denise Chow Denise Chow is a science and space reporter for NBC News.
NBC News
21 hours ago
- NBC News
U.S. citizen seeks $1M after arrest, detention for recording immigration raid at Home Depot
The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund is demanding the federal government pay $1 million in damages to a U.S. citizen who was arrested and detained while he was recording an immigration raid at a Home Depot in Los Angeles last month. MALDEF put the government on notice of a coming civil lawsuit for what it says were assault, battery, false arrest and false imprisonment against Job Garcia, 37. Garcia, a Ph.D. student and photographer, was tackled and thrown to the ground by agents in the Home Depot parking lot in Hollywood, arrested and held for more than 24 hours, MALDEF said. It said Wednesday that it submitted the claim against Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Border Patrol and other Department of Homeland Security agencies involved in Garcia's arrest. MALDEF also said that Garcia's arrest and detention were racially motivated and that the government agents may have violated his constitutional protections for free speech, his right to remain silent, his freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and his right to due process. MALDEF said the claim is a required administrative step before it files a lawsuit against the Border Patrol, ICE and the other DHS agencies. "The Border Patrol and ICE agents unlawfully restrained and detained Mr. Garcia for more than 24 hours without any valid grounds for interfering with his liberty and freedom of movement and they did so based on legally prohibited grounds," MALDEF said in its claim letter, dated Tuesday. MALDEF said he was released without arraignment or notification of a future court date. DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an emailed statement that Garcia assaulted and verbally harassed a federal agent and that he was subdued and arrested for the alleged assault. She repeated Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's warning that anyone who lays a hand on a law enforcement officer will be fully prosecuted. Ernest Herrera, MALDEF's Western regional counsel, said the claim sends a message to the federal government about punishing people for exercising their First Amendment rights "and for hurting bystanders and protesters, whether they be U.S. citizens or not during these raids that are happening in public places." Garcia regularly traveled to Los Angeles-area Home Depots for his job as a delivery driver for an online business. He and others saw agents making the arrests and started recording them on his smartphone, MALDEF said. When Customs and Border Patrol agents surrounded a commercial light truck, he and other bystanders yelled to the driver not to open his door or window and to keep silent, according to MALDEF. "All individuals that Border Patrol agents had detained up to this point appeared to be Latino or Latin American national origin. The driver of the light commercial truck also appeared to be Latino or of Latin American national origin," it said. MALDEF said a masked agent lunged at Garcia and tried to grab his phone, leading him to move backward. The agent who had lunged at him threw Garcia's phone to the ground and tackled him. Other agents joined in, restraining him with their knees in his back and pressing his face into the asphalt, even though he did not resist, MALDEF said. "Mr. Garcia felt that his breathing was restricted and momentarily feared that he may be killed in this position," the claim says. An agent transferring Garcia tried to speak to him in Spanish "and was surprised when Mr. Garcia responded in English" but continued to try to speak Spanish to him. Garcia was taken to Dodger Stadium in handcuffs. By that time, agents had confirmed that he was a citizen with no criminal warrants and that there was no information to suspect he had committed a crime, MALDEF said. "During this time, Garcia said he heard the agents boasting about how many 'bodies' they had gotten that day and saw them celebrate with high-fives," it said. The claim also sends a message that 'the American public does not approve of this sort of immigration enforcement action where people are terrorized, where certain people are targeted and agents themselves are bragging about how many bodies they got,' Herrera said. Agents tried to interrogate Garcia after they read him his rights, MALDEF said. He refused to answer questions and was not read his rights when later attempts were made to interrogate him, it said. He was transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles and released the next day, without arraignment or any information about a future court date, MALDEF said. "Border Patrol and ICE punished me for informing others of their rights and exercising my own rights," Garcia said in the MALDEF statement. MALDEF said Garcia sustained bruising on his back, neck, arms, face and legs from the tackling and restraint, that he is suffering emotional distress and that he lost out on more than four days of delivery work, costing him $2,500 to $3,000. He also has stopped his academic work because of emotional distress and might not complete his program in a year, as expected, MALDEF said. 'When government engages in widespread violation of individual rights with respect to immigrants without status, the harm inevitably spills over and spreads to others; that is why we must insist, as a society, on respect for the rights of everyone,' Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF's president and general counsel, said in a statement. 'Here, a citizen, acting in the best traditions of our democracy, was engaged in documenting government misconduct to encourage policy change; he was wrongfully arrested and detained because of his race and his heroic efforts,' Saenz said.
