To bystanders at the federal courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, it sounded as though U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli would not take no for an answer.
A prosecutor had the irate Trump administration appointee on speakerphone outside the grand jury room, and his screaming was audible, according to three law enforcement officials aware of the encounter who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
The grand jury had just refused to indict someone accused of attacking federal law enforcement officers during protests against the recent immigration raids throughout Southern California, two of the federal officials said.
It was an exceedingly rare outcome after a type of hearing that routinely leads to federal charges being filed.
On the overheard call, according to the three officials, Essayli, 39, told a subordinate to disregard the federal government’s “Justice Manual,” which directs prosecutors to bring only cases they can win at trial. Essayli barked that prosecutors should press on and secure indictments as directed by U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi, according to the three officials.
Court records show the reason for Essayli’s frustration.
Although his office filed felony cases against at least 38 people for alleged misconduct that either took place during last month’s protests or near the sites of immigration raids, many have been dismissed or reduced to misdemeanor charges.
The three officials who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity said prosecutors have struggled to get several protest-related cases past grand juries, which need only to find probable cause that a crime has been committed in order to move forward. That is a much lower bar than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required for a criminal conviction.
Five cases have been dismissed without prejudice — meaning they could be refiled — and records show nine have been filed as misdemeanors, which do not require a grand jury indictment to proceed. In some cases, prosecutors reduced charges against defendants to misdemeanors after repeatedly falling short at the grand jury stage, according to the three officials.
Essayli declined to be interviewed for this article. A statement provided by his office on Tuesday accused The Times of spreading “factual inaccuracies and anonymous gossip,” but offered no specifics or further comment in response to questions.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue working unapologetically to charge all those who assault our agents or impede our federal investigations,” the statement said.
Legal experts said Essayli’s low number of indictments raised concerns about the strength of the cases he is filing.
Carley Palmer, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who is now a partner at Halpern May Ybarra Gelberg, said the grand jury’s repeated rejection of cases was “a strong indication that the priorities of the prosecutor’s office are out of sync with the priorities of the general community.”
Essayli has won indictments in some serious cases, including two where defendants are accused of throwing or planning to throw Molotov cocktails at L.A. law enforcement officers, and a case where defendants allegedly fired a paintball gun at federal police. But in total, he has secured only seven indictments, which usually need to be obtained no later than 21 days after the filing of a criminal complaint. Three other cases have been resolved via plea deal, records show.
High-ranking Justice Department officials have repeatedly praised his work.
“My friend, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, is a champion for law and order who has done superlative work to prosecute rioters for attacking and obstructing law enforcement in Los Angeles,” Bondi said in a statement to The Times.
But legal experts and some of Essayli’s prosecutors say he’s stretching legal limits to serve as President Trump’s attack dog in L.A.
“It’s just generally a culture of ‘if Bill asks you to jump, you ask how high,’” said one prosecutor who feared retaliation. “Any case he wants to charge, find a way to make it a yes.”
Questions about Essayli’s effectiveness come at a crucial time for the former California Assembly member. Bondi appointed him in early April, giving him 120 days to serve as interim U.S. attorney until receiving Senate approval. If he is not confirmed by then, a panel of federal judges will have the opportunity to appoint him — or someone else — to the position.
Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla of California raised concerns about Essayli’s leadership of the office in interviews with The Times, and a direct approval from the bench is no sure thing. This month, a federal judicial panel blocked Trump’s choice for U.S. attorney in upstate New York after the time limit for Senate confirmation had expired.
On Tuesday, another judicial panel declined to appoint New Jersey’s interim federal prosecutor, Alina Habba, one of Trump’s former personal lawyers. Bondi, however, decried the judges for going “rogue,” fired their choice for U.S. attorney and reappointed Habba. Legal experts say the move is unprecedented.
Meghan Blanco, a former federal prosecutor in L.A. who serves as defense counsel to one of the protesters who is facing charges, said the cases are faltering in part because of unreliable information provided by immigration agents claiming to be victims.
“Frankly, they’re not deserving of prosecution,” she said. “What is being alleged isn’t a federal crime, or it simply did not happen.”
Blanco represents Jose Mojica, who was accused of pushing a federal officer in Paramount on June 7.
According to an investigation summary of the incident reviewed by The Times, a U.S. Border Patrol officer claimed a man was screaming in his face that he was going to “shoot him,” then punched him. The officer said he and other agents started chasing the man, but were “stopped by two other males,” later identified as Mojica and Bryan Ramos-Brito.
Blanco said she obtained social media videos showing no such chase took place and presented them at Mojica’s first court appearance. The charges were soon dropped.
“The agent lied and said he was in hot pursuit of a person who punched him,” Blanco said. “The entirety of the affidavit is false.”
Felony charges against Ramos-Brito and two related defendants, Ashley and Joceline Rodriguez, were also dismissed, though prosecutors refiled misdemeanor cases against them.
Christian Camacho-Cerna, the man who allegedly punched an agent, has been indicted. He has pleaded not guilty, with trial set for next month.
Similar issues arose in the case of Andrea Velez, who was charged on June 25 with assaulting a federal officer. The criminal complaint alleged Velez, who is 4 feet 11 inches, stood in the path of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with her arms extended, striking his head and chest when they collided.
Diane Bass, Velez’s attorney, said the incident occurred when masked, unidentified men in plainclothes pulled up to question a downtown L.A. street vendor.
Velez had just been dropped off for work when some of the masked men ran at her and one shoved her to the ground, Bass said. Velez, fearing she was being abducted, held up her work bag to shield herself.
Bass requested body-worn camera video and witness statements cited in the complaint. Soon after, she said, the prosecutor dismissed the case.
One of the three officials, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said concerns are growing among prosecutors about the accuracy of statements by federal immigration agents that serve as the basis for criminal charges.
“There are a lot of hotheaded [Customs and Border Protection] officers who are kind of arresting first and asking questions later. We’re finding there’s not probable cause to support it,” said the prosecutor, who requested anonymity over concerns of repercussions.
One case under close scrutiny is that of
Adrian Martinez, a 20-year-old charged in a criminal complaint last month with conspiracy to impede a federal officer.
Martinez said he was on a break from his job at Walmart when he spotted immigration agents chasing down a custodial worker, and told them to leave the man alone.
Video shows Martinez being thrown to the ground and shoved into a truck, which he said took him to a parking structure.
Once there, Martinez said, he was told he’d been arrested for assaulting a federal officer by striking an agent in the face and breaking his glasses. Martinez, who weighs around 150 pounds, said the agents arresting him pointed to the colleague he was being accused of attacking, who looked “like a grizzly bear.”
“I don’t even remember you,” Martinez recalled saying. “It just seemed like they were trying to get me to say like, ‘yes, you assaulted him,’ but I knew I didn’t.”
The next day, Essayli posted a photo on X of Martinez, still in his blue Walmart vest. Martinez, he wrote, had been arrested “for an allegation of punching a border patrol agent in the face.”
The criminal complaint makes no reference to a punch and video taken at the scene does not clearly show Martinez striking anyone. Federal prosecutors instead charged Martinez with conspiracy to impede a federal officer, alleging he blocked federal law enforcement vehicles with his car and then later a trash can.
Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, previously told The Times that complaints do not always include “the full scope of a defendant’s conduct, or the evidence that will be presented at trial.”
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency could not comment on cases under active litigation.
“Our officers are facing a surge in assaults and attacks against them as they put their lives on the line to enforce our nation’s laws,” the Homeland Security statement said.
Charges against nonviolent defendants have repeatedly raised alarm bells among current and former federal prosecutors. In early June, union leader David Huerta was charged with conspiracy to impede a federal officer for allegedly interfering with immigration enforcement actions in the downtown L.A. garment district. Legal experts said Huerta’s conduct did not appear criminal.
“Where do you draw the line between an organized protest and a conspiracy to impede?” Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor and professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, asked last month. “It’ll actually be interesting to see if a grand jury indicts these cases.”
Huerta has denied all wrongdoing and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment. A deadline of Aug. 5 looms for prosecutors to secure an indictment.
Court filings show some prosecutors appear to be refusing to sign their names to contentious cases.
An
indictment returned against Alejandro Orellana — who is accused of conspiracy and aiding in civil disorder for passing out gas masks at a protest scene in early June — was signed only by Essayli and his second-in-command, Jennifer Waier, records show. Such cases are typically handled by rank-and-file assistant U.S. attorneys.
In early May, when Essayli pushed to
offer a lenient plea deal to L.A. County Sheriff’s Deputy Trevor Kirk months after a jury convicted him of assaulting a woman during a 2023 arrest, several prosecutors refused to sign the document asking for the deal, and some later resigned.
