Acquittal of Juan Espinoza Martinez in Chicago marks latest major federal prosecution to fall apart in court
Acquittal of Juan Espinoza Martinez in Chicago marks latest major federal prosecution to fall apart in court
A man accused of a murder-for-hire plot targeting a top US border patrol leader was found not guilty on Thursday in Chicago, the latest high-profile prosecution by the Department of Justice to fall apart in court.
The government alleged that Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, had offered a $10,000 bounty over Snapchat in October for the killing of Gregory Bovino, the border patrol official who has spearheaded aggressive immigration operations in cities across the country. Defense lawyers argued Espinoza Martinez was sharing an innocuous social media message that did not constitute a threat.
The jury’s acquittal, after less than four hours of deliberation, is an embarrassing outcome for federal prosecutors in the first criminal trial stemming from the Trump administration’s major crackdown in the Chicago-area that started last year.
The verdict comes after dozens of criminal cases tied to immigration enforcement have crumbled across the country. In September, the first Los Angeles protester to go to trial in connection with the southern California demonstrations against immigration raids was also acquitted in a case that featured direct testimony from Bovino.
Espinoza Martinez was facing 10 years in prison for the murder-for-hire charge. When he was arrested last year, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) called him a “depraved” gang member and “thug”, and Bovino has cited the case as an example of the increasing dangers facing federal agents.
