Man accused of plot to murder US border patrol’s Bovino found not guilty

Key Highlights

• 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. Spokespeople for DHS did not immediately respond to inquiries. The government’s case focused on the Snapchat messages Espinoza Martinez sent to his younger brother and a friend who turned out to be a government informant.
• One read in part “10k if u take him down”, along with a picture of Bovino.“Those words do not indicate that this was a joke,” Jason Yonan, the second-highest-ranking federal prosecutor in the Chicago region, told jurors.
• “Those words have meaning.