A federal jury in Chicago wanted lower than three hours on Thursday to acquit a person prosecutors claimed had put a $10,000 bounty on a Border Patrol commander’s head on the top of final fall’s Operation Halfway Blitz.
Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, walked free after jurors rejected the federal government’s allegations that he was a high-ranking Latin Kings gang member who sought the homicide of Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino in October.
Federal prosecutors had alleged Martinez supplied $10,000 for Bovino’s killing and $2,000 for details about his whereabouts. However in keeping with proof offered at trial, Martinez—a concrete employee who vehemently denied any gang involvement—had merely shared memes or jokes a few bounty along with his brother and one different individual.
The federal government offered little proof to assist its preliminary claims that Martinez held a management place within the Latin Kings or that he orchestrated any precise murder-for-hire plot.
Prosecutors stated in October that Martinez used Snapchat and encrypted messaging to rally gang members following a Border Patrol-involved taking pictures in Brighton Park. The feds claimed {that a} confidential supply advised investigators that Martinez dispatched gang members to the taking pictures scene, instructing them to accumulate weapons and guard Latin Kings territory close to twenty sixth Road and South Drake Avenue. The preliminary allegations additionally purported that Martinez had the authority to order murders and cited the gang’s fame for finishing up hits in opposition to rivals and regulation enforcement.
However at trial, proof confirmed Martinez by no means pursued any murder-for-hire scheme past the preliminary social media exchanges and by no means revisited the concept. Investigators had linked Martinez to the communications by means of Snapchat information.
The swift acquittal represents a major defeat for federal prosecutors who had portrayed Martinez as a harmful gang chief able to orchestrating violence in opposition to regulation enforcement. To this point, of the handfuls of people that have been charged with interfering with or in any other case obstructing immigration brokers in Chicago, federal prosecutors have didn’t win a single conviction.
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