A federal judge in Tucson is ordering the U.S. government to turn a first-degree murder suspect over to Pima County for prosecution rather than withholding access to him while he also faces federal charges.
U.S. District Court Judge Rosemary Marquez ruled Wednesday that U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi must have the Marshals Service temporarily produce Julio Cesar Aguirre, 42, for an initial appearance, arraignment and witness depositions on the Pima County charges, which will be prosecuted in state court.
Aguirre is to be returned to federal custody after that, Marquez said.
In her ruling, Marquez slammed the positions taken by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, noting they “take the position that the State lacks any avenue of effective judicial relief in its quest to secure Aguirre’s presence for state-court criminal proceedings.”
She went on to say they provided “no cogent argument as to why this Court should disregard this clear language from the Supreme Court and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.”
Marquez added that the federal attorneys “have entirely failed to establish why temporarily producing Aguirre for state-court criminal proceedings would impact the integrity of the federal case against him.”
Pima County and federal prosecutors have feuded for weeks over jurisdiction to prosecute Aguirre, who is accused of killing 70-year-old Ricky Miller Sr. during a carjacking attempt and burglary during an hours-long crime spree on June 30 in a midtown Tucson neighborhood.
Pima County Attorney Laura Conover has said she worried that Aguirre — an ex-con who’d previously been deported to Mexico after a term in an Arizona prison — would be deported again before facing a criminal trial by her office.
Both Pima County and the U.S. Attorney’s Office obtained indictments against Aguirre in the case, and the federal government claimed jurisdiction.
Conover
“The alleged series of crimes in the indictment, starting with illegal immigration, escalating to prohibited possession of a firearm, and culminating in the death of an innocent individual is why the United States Attorney’s Office takes this matter so seriously,” Timothy Courchaine, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, has said. The alleged carjacking resulting in death is a serious federal offense, U.S. officials said.
Conover’s office sued the federal government in August seeking access to Aguirre. Courchaine’s office pushed in return to keep custody of him.
The Pima County Attorney’s Office “is grateful for the ruling” by Marquez “that provides the opportunity for our office to serve justice for the multiple victims of the alleged crime spree on June 30,” Conover’s office said in a news release Thursday.
“From the start of this case, our only goal was to provide justice for all seven local victims instead of only one victim as contemplated by federal prosecutors. With this victory in court, we can now do so,” the Pima County office said.
