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Two and a half years ago, Utah immigration agent Jon Martinson Jr. made a split-second decision to throw down a disruptive, shackled inmate to the concrete floor.

Since then, Martinson has had a criminal charge lodged against him twice in federal court. He has spent months on unpaid leave.

It's been years of anxiety and stress for Martinson and his family, the agent said Saturday.

"My children are nervous that I will be taken away from them because I was only doing my job," Martinson told The Tribune in a statement. "I followed the training I received from the government and now that same government is prosecuting me and trying to send me to prison. I know that I didn't do anything wrong and that this will be proven in court."

Martinson's attorneys are asking a federal judge for a second time to toss the case against Martinson, arguing in court papers filed Saturday that prosecutors have charged an innocent man who was doing what he had been trained to do.

Martison is charged in federal court with a count of deprivation of rights under the color of law — which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

According to a federal indictment, prosecutors claim Martinson violated Fabian Maldonado-Pineda's Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment when the agent "maliciously and sadistically" threw him to the floor on July 3, 2013.

The inmate's attorneys have alleged he was severely injured in the incident.

In July, U.S. District Judge Dee Benson dismissed the same charge against Martinson. But in the first case, prosecutors had claimed Martinson violated Maldonado-Pineda's Fourth Amendment right regarding unreasonable force during search and seizure.

Defense attorney and University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell successfully argued that because Maldonado-Pineda was not being searched by Martinson and wasn't being arrested, the Fourth Amendment violation did not apply to his client.

Now, federal prosecutors have re-filed the case alleging Maldonado-Pineda's right against cruel and unusual punishment were violated. But Martinson's attorneys argued in court papers that prosecutors had previously told a federal judge during oral arguments for the first motion to dismiss that an Eighth Amendment violation would not apply in their case.

The three defense attorneys — Cassell, Jon Williams and Jeremy Delicino — further argue that prosecutors must prove at trial that Martinson's actions were "unnecessary" and a "wanton infliction of pain."

"The government's new indictment is defective on its face," the filing reads, "because it has failed to even allege that Agent Martinson's actions were in any way unnecessary."

Melodie Rydalch, spokeswoman with the U.S. Attorney's Office of Utah, declined to comment on the latest filing Saturday, saying, "We will file our response with the court."

Martinson's attorneys also argue in the filing that their client was following his training when he performed a "hip toss" on Maldonado-Pineda, whom they claim was pulling away from Martinson while he was trying to move him between cells. If U.S. District Judge David Sam does not dismiss the charge, they will bolster that claim at an upcoming trial with expert testimony from Gary DeLand, who is currently the jail operations director of the Utah Sheriff's Association and was previously executive director of the Utah Department of Corrections.

DeLand told The Tribune that he's watched security footage of the throwdown about "three dozen times," and believes Martinson did exactly what he and other agents have been trained to do. He said police are taught the best way to use force is to get the subject to the ground.

"He was trying to swing him down to the ground," DeLand said. "Sometimes the subject doesn't get the memo on how they are supposed to land. One of the things you have to look at in use of force cases is not just the outcome. Because two different people can do the exact same thing, but the way the person taken down reacts [can change the outcome.] They should be evaluating how [the prisoner] went down, not how he landed."

A federal indictment alleges that Martinson slammed Maldonado-Pineda "on the concrete floor face first." But the ICE agent's defense attorneys contend that the incident was much less severe, and that the inmate landed on his chest.

DeLand said he has worked as an expert witness on hundreds of cases, but has been retained by a defense team only a handful of times. He said he was hesitant to work on Martinson's case initially, but once he saw the surveillance footage, he "changed my mind completely."

"It's a pretty straight-forward case," DeLand said. "Either the guy was following his training requirement or he wasn't. … [This] may be a civil case at most, but how do you get criminal intent doing exactly what you were trained to do? That was my problem with it. There was nothing close."

Martinson's attorneys wrote in the Saturday filing that their client has also received support from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, who is currently soliciting funds for Martinson's defense. The same organization also backed Shaun Cowley, a former West Valley City police detective who was charged with manslaughter after fatally shooting an unarmed 21-year-old woman.

At the time of the incident, Maldonado-Pineda was in ICE custody, having been convicted of illegal re-entry to the U.S., and was being moved to a different cell because he had been disruptive to other inmates that day, according to Martinson's attorneys.

Maldonado-Pineda has also filed a federal civil case against Martinson and the federal government, claiming his civil rights were violated and that Martinson used excessive force. Maldonado-Pineda's attorneys claim the throwdown caused their client to lose consciousness, as well as caused a broken nose, injured shoulder and lost teeth. He also suffered a number of cuts on his forehead and lip that required stitches and received a traumatic brain injury, the complaint alleges.

That civil case, however, is on hold until Martinson's criminal case is resolved.

Martinson's case is scheduled to go to trial in mid-March.

Twitter: @jm_miller