They had to stop a New Jersey trial after a juror was fined thousands of dollars after disobeying a judge and Google-searching a patch on the uniform of a U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Officer. He believed that the ICE patch on the officer’s uniform was a symbol for white supremacy.
The case of U.S. v. Kevin Ruiz-Quezada shows us perfectly just how identity politics has festered in every aspect of modern life. Today, we even have ICE uniforms that are being mistaken for a colonial system of prejudice or white supremacy, according to reports.
A New Jersey federal court was trying a man named Kevin Ruiz-Quezada because he was accused of assaulting an ICE agent in a December 2017 incident at Mr. Quezada’s home. Although the defendant was a permanent legal resident, he was eligible for being deported to his home country of Nicaragua because he had had two previous convictions.
The two previous convictions were for crimes that involved “moral turpitude” as reported by New Jersey’s Courier-Post.
The federal immigration officers went to arrest him in 2017, and he went ahead and attacked them. He pulled the officers on top of the living room table, according to the official complaint against Mr. Quezada.
One of the officers needed to have minor surgery after engaging in the scuffle with the assailant.
The prosecution was trying the accused for that alleged assault, but unfortunately the whole entire trial was derailed due to a rogue juror who was confused over the ICE patch on an officer’s uniform. This juror defied the judge and did research on their own due to an internet search, and that is when the controversy over the ICE patch truly began.
The Courier-Post reported that the man’s name was Stephen Meile and he was deliberating with the other jurors last month when he and several other jurors became confused about a patch on one of the police officer’s ICE uniforms. The juror ultimately defied the juror’s instructions and did some research on their own via a Google search, and that when he was led to believe that the ICE patch was a racist symbol. Meile and the other jurors had been told not to use books, the internet, or any other method besides the court itself to do their research.
When Juror Meile ignored the order and did a Google search, that is when he was led to believe that the ICE patch was a racist symbol and he proceeded to share his findings with the other jurors.
The Department of Justice reported that they had no choice but to fine Meile $11,227 and hold him in contempt of court because his actions caused U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to declare the case a mistrial.
“Juror Number 7 was one of 12 jurors on a federal criminal trial held in Camden federal court before Judge Kugler. Before and during the trial, Juror Number 7 and the other jurors were instructed repeatedly, both in writing and verbally, not to conduct any research about the case, including through use of the Internet,” the DOJ said.
“During a recess in the trial, Juror Number 7 conducted internet research into evidence in the case. He then shared his findings with the other jurors during the deliberations, and this caused a mistrial,” the DOJ added. “The fine represents the court’s costs associated with empanelling a jury for the trial.”
Ruiz-Quezada is going to have to be tried again simply because a man allowed identity politics to get in the way of being an impartial juror. He was led to believe that customs agents wear these badges because they believe that they are “racially superior” to minorities, and he tainted the other jurors with these ignorant views. This man is going to have to be tried again because of liberal identity politics! This is what happens when liberal ideology takes over a nation!