A man who was on trial for allegedly placing a bounty on the life of Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino was acquitted on Thursday.
The jury delivered their verdict shortly before 4 p.m.
The panel, consisting of six men and six women, began deliberations around 12:45 p.m. that day.
Earlier, the court had spent the entire morning hearing closing arguments.
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The case hinged on the question of intent. Prosecutors argued that Juan Espinoza Martinez intended to engage in a murder-for-hire plot, while his defense maintained that he was merely passing along neighborhood gossip.
“The government is asking you to convict based solely on Snapchat messages sent to a friend with physical challenges and his brother. That’s their entire case—no money was exchanged, no weapon was involved, just words,” stated defense attorney Dena Singer.
“These three lines of text and one picture show his intent. He went to the time to get a picture and post that picture in that message,” said Jason Yonan, first assistant U.S. attorney.
He hammered home what the government has said all along: A Snapchat message sent on Oct. 2 by Espinoza Martinez was a deliberate attempt to place a bounty on Bovino’s head during the height of “Operation Midway Blitz” last fall.
The message, in English and Spanish, offered $2,000 for information and $10,000 for his death.
“LK” signified Latin Kings.
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And while at the time of his arrest the government painted the 37-year-old union carpenter as a ranking member of the street gang, that allegation was later dropped.
The message was sent to his brother and a man he did not realize was a government informant.
There were also a handful of disjointed text messages and social media posts presented.
The government’s star witness did not provide much insight other than to confirm he received the message itself.
The government was unable to provide any evidence to corroborate an alleged murder-for-hire plot.
According to the statute, a person commits murder for hire if they take a substantial step toward committing the crime. That substantial step must be an act that strongly corroborates that the defendant intended to carry it out.
“Just because he didn’t like the ICE raids doesn’t mean he tried to get Bovino killed,” Espinoza Martinez’s defense attorney said at closing. “There would be other evidence if that was true.”
Espinoza Martinez was visibly relieved as the verdict was read. He’s been in federal lockup since early October.
He does not have a criminal record. He is a Mexican national who was brought into the United States as a young child.
The brief trial began Tuesday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in Chicago.
The verdict is a blow to the U.S Attorney’s Office in Chicago, which has already dropped 14 of its 31 non-immigration cases related to “Operation Midway Blitz.” This one was the first to reach the trial phase.
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