Defense lawyers for A Minnesota a man convicted in December of assaulting an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jonathan Ross seek access to investigation files linked to the murder of Renee Nicole Goodafter learning that Ross was the same officer who shot her during a targeted operation in Minneapolis last month.
Lawyers for Roberto Carlos Muñoz-Guatemala asked a federal judge Friday to order prosecutors to turn over training records as well as investigative files related to Ross, the ICE agent who killed Good on Jan. 7 during Operation Metro Surge and was also injured in a June 2025 incident in which Muñoz-Guatemala dragged him with his car.
A separate post-trial motion filed by the defense in the U.S. District Court in Minnesota asks the judge to suspend deadlines for a new trial motion until the pretrial motion is resolved.
Muñoz-Guatemala’s lawyers argue that even if the court ultimately decides that any newly discovered evidence does not entitle their client to a new trial, it has the right to consider whether there are mitigating factors that could impact the length of his sentence, such as whether Ross’s injuries could, to some extent, have been caused by his own behavior.
A jury found Muñoz-Guatemala guilty Dec. 10 of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon and causing bodily injury.
Court records indicate Ross and other agents attempted to question Muñoz-Guatemala last summer, and possibly petition him for deportation, because he had an administrative warrant for remaining in the country without authorization. They surrounded his Nissan Altima and attempted to remove him from the vehicle. Ross then used a tool to smash the rear driver’s side window before reaching inside. When the defendant sped away, Ross said, he was dragged about 100 yards, during which time he repeatedly deployed a Taser. Muñoz-Guatemala then called 911 to report that he had been the victim of an assault.
During his trial, Muñoz-Guatemala said he didn’t understand that Ross – who, according to his own testimony, wore green and gray ranger clothing and had his badge on his belt – was a federal agent. (Ross said Muñoz-Guatemala asked to speak to an attorney, which would suggest he knew Ross was acting as a law enforcement agent, but an FBI agent who witnessed the incident said he did not hear that. According to court records, that claim was not brought up in pretrial interviews, and prosecutors said they did not hear it before he made his complaint to court.) Muñoz-Guatemala’s lawyers now say that if he had been tried after Good’s killing, his defense might also have argued that he was right to resist Ross, who they say was the aggressor and who used excessive force.
The argument is that the jury instructions essentially contained a two-part decision tree: Jurors could convict Muñoz-Guatemala if they thought he should have known Ross was in law enforcement. They could also condemn him if they felt that driving away was not a reasonable response.
Muñoz-Guatemala’s conviction does not indicate which of these prongs the jury relied on. If that were the case, the defense argues in the motion, the court should have access to evidence that could impact Ross’s conduct, tactics and aggressive behavior – information that could indicate whether the officer has a history of reckless behavior in the field or contrary to his training.
Prosecutors have not yet filed a response to the motions. An email sent to an address associated with Ross in publicly available records did not result in an immediate response. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to questions about Ross’ current status or the status of a department review.
Ross was placed on administrative leave following the Jan. 7 shooting of Good, a 37-year-old Minnesota poet and mother of three, a step DHS officials consider standard protocol after a deadly use of force. Ross has not been charged with Good’s murder, and the Justice Department said he would not file criminal charges.
