Man guilty of killing U.S. Border Patrol agent

By Greg Moran, UNION-TRIBUNE

Originally published April 12, 2011 at 7:34 p.m., updated April 12, 2011 at 8:16 p.m.


SAN DIEGO — Two hours after receiving the case Tuesday, a federal court jury convicted a Mexicali man of second-degree murder in the January 2008 death of U.S. Border Patrol Agent Luis Aguilar.

The defendant, Jesus Navarro Montes, 25, was accused of ruthlessly running down Aguilar while fleeing across the Imperial County sand dunes in a drug-laden Hummer H2. He was also convicted of federal narcotics charges.

In closing arguments Tuesday following a two-week trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Leshner told jurors that Navarro callously ran over Aguilar in a desperate effort to flee from agents and return to Mexico.

Aguilar, 32, was killed on Jan. 19, 2008, on a narrow frontage road adjacent to the freeway in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area as he and another agent attempted to lay down a spike strip to stop Navarro. Aguilar was struck head-on with such force — no brakes, no slowing down — that it severed his brain stem on impact, Leshner said.

Navarro’s attorney, David Bartick, told jurors that his client was not the driver of the vehicle that killed Aguilar. He said jurors should look closely at testimony from witnesses who described the driver as heavier and with different-colored hair than Navarro.

U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement Tuesday night that she hoped “this guilty verdict brings some level of peace and closureâ€