A federal judge ruled that Fick & Marx client Kseniia Petrova can obtain discovery, including emails and other documents, regarding the government’s decision to prosecute her. The Court found that Ms. Petrova met her burden of producing at least some evidence of vindictive prosecution to warrant discovery.
Ms. Petrova, a 30-year-old Russian national and bioinformatics researcher at Harvard Medical School, returned to Logan Airport on February 16, 2025, after traveling in Europe. When U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) officials discovered scientific research samples in her luggage—comprised of inert (non-living), non-toxic, formalin-fixed embryonic frog cells—CBP unlawfully cancelled her visa, declared her inadmissible, and sent her into a months-long ordeal of cross-country transportation and detention.
She filed a habeas petition in the District of Vermont (the “habeas court”) against the Department of Homeland Security (“DHS”) and other respondents. Her unlawful detention and related litigation attracted international media attention.
Months later, as she achieved incremental success in her habeas case and appeared likely to be released on bond, DHS headquarters ordered a criminal investigation. Federal prosecutors quickly brought criminal charges, transferred Ms. Petrova to U.S. Marshals custody, refused to agree to conditions of release until she had spent additional weeks in custodial transportation from Louisiana to this Court for a detention hearing, and then, shortly after her arrival in Massachusetts, offered to drop all criminal charges if she would abandon her habeas petition and self-deport (she declined).
In these circumstances, the Court fond that Ms. Petrova had satisfied her burden to present at least “some evidence” of vindictiveness that would warrant further discovery.
Law360 covered the story and posted a copy of the Court’s Order.
Additional coverage has appeared in the New York Times and the Boston Globe.
An audio recording of William Fick’s cross-examination of a Homeland Security agent at a preliminary hearing in the case is available here.
Judge: “The statements by the U.S. Attorney indicated that Ms. Petrova’s status as a Harvard researcher was a factor in the decision to charge her with a felony.”