Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz found not guilty in cross-border slaying of Mexican
Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz found not guilty in cross-border slaying of Mexican teen
Rob O'Dell and Rafael Carranza, The Republic | azcentral.comPublished 3:44 p.m. MT April 23, 2018 | Updated 3:54 p.m. MT April 23, 2018
In an Arizona case, Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, 16, was shot 10 times in the back and head the night of Oct. 10, 2012, by one or more agents firing through the border fence into Nogales, Sonora. Agents said they were assaulted by rock throwers. The Republic
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(Photo: Ron Medvescek/Arizona Daily Star)
U.S. Border Patrol Agent Lonnie Swartz was found not guilty of second-degree murder in the slaying of a Mexican teenager, who Swartz shot through the border fence in a 2012 incident.
The Tucson federal court jury was unable to reach a verdict on lesser charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
Swartz was on trial for the killing of a Mexican teenager who was gunned down in a hail of 16 bullets in Nogales, Mexico.
U.S. District Court Judge Raner C. Collins instructed the jury that if they could not agree to a verdict in the second-degree murder charge, then they were to consider lesser charges including voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
Both the prosecution and the defense agreed Swartz fired through the bollards in the border fence, killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez on Oct. 10, 2012.
The murder case hinged on when exactly Elena Rodriguez was killed. Swartz fired through the fence in three bursts: an initial three, 10 while Elena Rodriguez was face down on the ground, and three more after he reloaded to fire again at a prone Elena Rodriguez.
RELATED: Witnesses recount Border Patrol agent's shooting of unarmed Mexican teen
Assistant U.S. Attorney Wallace Kleindienst argued Swartz committed second-degree murder by firing at Elena Rodriguez when he was no longer a threat to him and other agents because he was already on the lying on the ground struggling to survive.
Kleindienst said thermal video showed Elena Rodriguez was still moving his arm while he was on the ground and that Swartz executed him.
Defense attorney Sean Chapman argued that Swartz was justified in using deadly force because Swartz, other agents and Nogales Police officers were under attack by rock throwers.
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He said Swartz feared for his life because of the rocks and felt he needed to protect his fellow officers. It doesn't matter what the facts on the ground were, Chapman said, only the perception that Swartz had of the incident before the shooting.
Swartz testified he heard a Nogales police dog was hit by rocks and that another agent was hit by a rock. It doesn't matter that Nogales Police Officer John Zuniga testified his dog was not hit and a rock only rolled up and hit another agent in the shoe, Chapman said.
Swartz took the stand and gave vivid detail of events before and after the shooting. But he said his memory of the shooting itself had been "wiped away." Swartz testified that as he approached the fence, events became "distorted and gray," and as a result, he doesn't remember firing 16 shots and reloading his weapon.
Video played for the jury showed Elena Rodriguez on the ground as the agent fired 13 of the 16 shots through the border fence.
He was lying facedown on the ground and did not appear to be moving as Swartz fired two of the three volleys that hit Elena Rodriguez in the upper back, upper arms and head, a video reconstruction showed.
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