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a person’s destiny chicago Man accused of using Snapshot A $10,000 reward is offered for the life of the top player border patrol The commander fell into the hands of a federal jury Thursday.
Juan Espinoza Martinez, a 37-year-old carpenter, was charged with one count of murder-for-hire in the first criminal trial in the Chicago-area immigration crackdown. Testimony in the federal trial lasted just a few hours, the latest test of the issue trump card The government’s credibility in sending federal reinforcements from Minnesota to Maine.
At the center of the government’s case are Snapchat messages Espinoza Martinez sent to his brother and a friend who turned out to be a government informant. One section read, “$10,000 if you take him down,” and included a photo of Border Patrol agent Gregory Bovino, who has led harsh crackdowns across the country, including last year in the Chicago area.
“These words do not indicate that this was a joke,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Yonan told jurors during closing arguments. “These words have meaning. They are not innocent words.”
But defense attorneys said the government presented no evidence against Espinosa Martinez, who sent the messages as “neighborhood gossip” after he came home from get off work to relax with a beer. He failed to follow up on the exchange and only had a few dollars in his bank account.
“Sending information about gossip you hear in your neighborhood is not murder for hire,” his defense attorney Dena Singer told jurors. “This is not a federal crime.”
If convicted, Espinosa Martinez faces up to 10 years in prison.
Prosecutors accused Espinosa Martinez of being “obsessed” with Bovino and cited other messages from him criticizing the crackdown.
Espinoza Martinez was arrested in October as the Chicago area became the focus of federal attention. Protests, arrests and tense confrontations with immigration agents are common in the city of 2.7 million people and its surrounding suburbs, especially in the Mexican village neighborhood where Espinoza Martinez lives.
He did not testify at the trial.
But attorneys played clips of his interviews with law enforcement in which he said he was confused by the charges and sent the messages without much thought while scrolling through social media after get off work.
“I didn’t threaten anyone,” he told investigators, sometimes switching between English and Spanish during the interview. “I’m not saying I told them to do that.”
He was born in Mexico and lived in Chicago for many years without citizenship.
The Department of Homeland Security promoted Espinosa Martinez’s arrest on social media, posting an unedited mugshot and calling him a “depraved” gang member. Bovino cited the case as an example of the growing dangers federal agents face. Prosecutors include Yonan, the No. 2 federal prosecutor in the Chicago area.
But several federal lawsuits in Chicago have raised doubts about the Department of Homeland Security’s claims. Of the approximately 30 criminal cases stemming from the Midway blitz, about half of the charges have been dismissed or dropped. In a high-profile lawsuit that forced Bovino to testify, a federal judge found that he had lied under oath, including about alleged gang threats.
Across the country, dozens of criminal cases related to immigration operations have also been uncovered.
Bovino did not testify at the trial.
Federal prosecutors initially called Espinosa Martinez a “high-ranking member” of the Latin Kings, but U.S. District Judge Joan Lefko barred testimony about the Chicago street gang at trial due to a lack of evidence. According to the criminal complaint, Espinosa Martinez allegedly sent messages to other gang members on behalf of the gang.
There were few mentions of the gang during the trial, including an interview in which Espinoza Martinez said he had no ties to the Latin Kings. his brother, OscarTestified that he viewed the Snapchat messages as a joke and that he had seen them on Facebook.
Singer pointed to gaps in the government’s case, including the testimony of the first witness, Adrian Jimenez.
The 44-year-old, who owns a construction company, had been in touch with Espinoza Martinez about work via Snapchat. What Espinoza Martinez didn’t know was that for years he also worked as a paid government informant and shared Snapchats with a federal investigator.
Jimenez, who suffers from back problems, limped slowly toward the witness chair and needed help standing up.
“Would you recruit someone who was in such pain that he could barely walk?” Singer told jurors. “It doesn’t make any sense.”