exactly a year ago, Marty Martinez survived being shot 5 times by a Border Patrol agent in Brighton Park after the shooting.

She was charged with assaulting federal agents, though the case was quickly dismissed and the Department of Homeland Security website still rough.

First Martinez has a, quote, domestic terrorist in last year.

She's been speaking out and now she's taking a new legal step filing a federal lawsuit against the U.S.

government.

Joining us to talk about this in depth is Christopher Peretti, a criminal defense attorney at law firm Sher Otis in per NT.

He represents.

Marty Martinez, thank you for joining us.

Thanks for having on.

So she she's had to recount this story over and over again over the last year or so to investigators to the Illinois Accountability Commission and to Congress.

Here's a bit of what she said today at your news conference about why she continues to tell her story.

>> I don't, then who else?

look at what happened to remain all these victims.

Why I have a voice.

I don't matter because what's happening is not normal.

We should see here in the malaise was happy.

>> what does she want people to understand about the shooting and what this past year has been like for You know, she wants accountability, which is what we all want right.

And once the government dismissed the indictment against memoir, she was ready to move on and what happened was we saw what happened in Minneapolis with the killings of Renee Good, Alex Pretti and she said Chris, we can't stay silent anymore.

They need to see what happened to me because the truth is that it was an unlawful shooting.

And so what we did today in releasing these findings is proving night, not a he said.

She said it's what science says.

It shows us and it shows the American people that this Border Patrol agent lied about being in front of vehicle that he shot her from the side of the vehicle and from behind the vehicle, which is just simply unacceptable to any political party, Republican or Democrat in Miramar wants accountability.

You pursued other legal efforts surrounding this case.

Of course, what does this new lawsuit accomplish that some of your previous efforts could not?

>> Yeah.

So we waited a full year for the FBI and U.S.

attorney's office to do anything.

Right?

There's a civil rights division at DOJ specifically designed for cases like this where an agent act unlawfully.

They've done nothing.

And so what this case does is it puts out there in the you know, stream sort of the facts and the truth.

And so again, this isn't a he said she said anymore.

It's not Miramar versus Charles It's science.

Its trajectory analysis of how those bullets hit her body and hit her car.

And it clearly shows from the images we released today by an independent expert that used by the government as well as defense and all these cases around the country that this agent was not in front of vehicle.

He was to the side of the vehicle and he shot that final shot through the rear passenger window at Miramar.

>> So your lawsuit named the federal government as the sole defendant, not the Department of Homeland Security, former Secretary Kristi Noem or even the agent who you just mentioned, Charles why go that route?

Because, you know, federal agents has, as we've heard from this administration have tremendous immunity, right?

And it's not like Chicago police or local law enforcement.

>> They are protected by very significant immunity protections.

And so here we're using what's called the FTC.

The Federal Tort Claims Act.

And so the United States is the party, but they are held responsible for the actions of other employees, which in this case it would be Border Patrol Agent Charles Action.

What are what are you asking the government to be accountable for what he's seeking here?

So we're seeing we're seeking financial recovery for for Miramar, for the, you know, the 7 holes in her body that were put there unlawfully by Charles Jackson.

But more importantly for Marmara and for us is to get the truth out there so that the public can see that when the agent told the FBI that he shot her 5 times through the windshield, that that's just simply not true.

And I think that's important because we continue to see the shootings take place because these immigration agents are being told that they have full immunity and can do whatever they want whenever they want, which is why we see people continuously being shot on the streets of every city in this country.

And it will continue to happen until there's accountability.

So what what we're hoping for is that this is the first case that brings real accountability against an immigration officer for for shooting an innocent person.

You've named the photos on and you've said that Charles was not justified in shooting Martinez.

What evidence do you believe proves that?

>> So remember, he's interviewed the day out of the shooting so well, Greg Bovino is is sending him an email saying great work in Chicago, shooting this young Montessori school teacher were going steady retirement age.

>> Greg, second is also being interviewed by the FBI and he says I shot her because she was driving directly at me and I shot her 5 times through the front windshield and I ceased firing once.

I was no longer front of a car.

Well, again, we had we took the car from the government.

We had an independent expert Dr Jeremy Bauer, who specializes in this come out and examine those bullet holes and examine Mayor Mars body.

And from doing that, you can do a trajectory analysis and he can determine exactly where Agent was when he shot those 5 shots.

And it certainly was not in front of the vehicle.

Has he said it?

Was it to the side into the rear of the vehicle and we have you shared with us.

Also the some of the images of that of that shooting or about re creation.

>> Did you learn anything more from from It's just for me as a former federal prosecutor who used to prosecute, you know, cases like this and worked hand-in-hand with law enforcement.

It was appalling.

You know that that image of him shooting through the rear passenger window it to me.

It looks like it is.

It's not the United States of America and no at no time have can I come up with a reason play U.S.

Law enforcement officer.

We need to shoot young Montessori school teacher through the rear passenger window as she's hovered over the steering wheel, trying to get away to safety.

>> You've also said that you still hope criminal charges could be brought against She has filed a report with the Chicago Police Department.

What is the status of possible criminal charges?

There is a Chicago police detective who is actively working this case.

We have turned over these slides to him.

We have turned over everything that we have.

We're hopeful that the U.S.

attorney's office will also turn over their files.

>> To Chicago Police Department so that if the federal system Department of Justice will not bring charges as we hope they will, that at least the Cook County State's attorney's office could bring forth some sense of justice because, again, this is an unlawful shooting that occurred on Kedzie Avenue on a beautiful Saturday morning a year ago.

And if the federal government or not is not going to hold Charles Exxon accountable, then hopefully the Cook County State's attorney.

Well, do you have faith do believe that that progress is being made in that direction.

A guy understand a detective someone with CPD has been assigned to her case.

It I do.

I have almost daily contact with this detective at this point.

And I have been, you know, giving him everything that we have.

>> And again, you know, the Illinois Accountability Commission appointed by Governor Pritzker made up of retired federal judges retire federal prosecutors, former police chiefs.

They looked at this case and they said so there's you know, there's reason to believe that criminal charges should be brought here.

The need to look at this.

So this isn't just, you know, defense team saying that this is, you know, the Illinois Accountability Commission themselves who are made up of independent people who know this space said, yes, this needs to be examined because it certainly appears that that something went wrong here.

What accountability looks like for my team and I I think she wants Charles in jail.

You know, she had to spend the for night in the MCC of Chicago at the Federal Detention Center.

She did it while she would have, you know, bandages all over her and she's leaking blood on the floor of the jail.

Charles should have to be held accountable.

Not.

I mean, look, he lied about what happened.

his fellow agents covered it up he shot her for no reason, right?

I mean, the reason he lied about being in front of the vehicles, the same line here and there in a good case in the Alex Pretti case, they try to justify the chute by saying that they were in fear of being run over in here.

Science just proves that didn't happen.

just it's not a he said.

She said science proves that he was not in