LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An assistant U.S. attorney has denied allegations that federal agents and prosecutors wrongly kept a man arrested in an August immigration raid from seeing his attorney.
A law firm hired to represent Eric Beringer, a supervisor for Elkhorn River Farms in north-central Nebraska’s Holt County, made the allegations earlier this month. John Berry says a lawyer from his firm was told he couldn’t see Beringer until the day after the Aug. 8 raid. Berry is moving in court to suppress anything Beringer said to federal agents or prosecutors.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods says in a court filing that Berry had called her office that day but didn’t say who his law firm would be representing. Woods also says Beringer didn’t indicate he wanted an attorney present after being read his rights and agreeing to speak.
Woods says the lawyer from Berry’s firm was told he couldn’t speak with Beringer because other suspects were being processed and for “security and logistical concerns.”