\n<\/p>\n
CHICAGO — <\/span>The fate of a Chicago man accused of using Snapchat to offer a $10,000 bounty<\/a> on the life of a top Border Patrol commander<\/a> rested in a federal jury\u2019s hands<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n Juan Espinoza Martinez, a 37-year-old carpenter, was charged with a single count of murder-for-hire in the first criminal trial out of the Chicago area immigration crackdown<\/a>. Testimony lasted mere hours in the federal trial that\u2019s the latest test of the Trump administration\u2019s credibility on federal surges that have played out from Minnesota<\/a> to Maine<\/a>.<\/p>\n At the heart of the government\u2019s case are Snapchat messages sent from Espinoza Martinez to his younger brother and a friend who turned out to be a government informant. One read in part \u201c10k if u take him down,\u201d along with a picture of Gregory Bovino<\/a>, a Border Patrol official who has led aggressive crackdowns nationwide, including last year in the Chicago area. <\/p>\n \u201cThose words do not indicate that this was a joke,\u201d First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Yonan told jurors during closing arguments. \u201cThose words have meaning. They are not innocent and harmless words.\u201d<\/p>\n But defense attorneys said the government didn\u2019t show any evidence against Espinoza Martinez who sent the messages as \u201cneighborhood gossip\u201d after coming home from work and unwinding with beers. He didn\u2019t follow up on the exchanges and had only a few dollars in his bank account. <\/p>\n \u201cSending a message about gossip that you heard in the neighborhood, it\u2019s not murder for hire,\u201d his defense attorney Dena Singer told jurors. \u201cIt\u2019s not a federal crime.\u201d<\/p>\n If convicted, Espinoza Martinez faces up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n Prosecutors accused Espinoza Martinez of being \u201cfixated and obsessed\u201d with Bovino and cited other messages where he criticized the crackdown. <\/p>\n Espinoza Martinez was arrested in October as the Chicago area was in the federal spotlight. Protests, arrests and tense standoffs with immigration agents were common throughout the city of 2.7 million and surrounding suburbs, especially in the city\u2019s heavily Mexican Little Village neighborhood<\/a> where Espinoza Martinez lived.<\/p>\n He did not testify at his trial. <\/p>\n But attorneys played clips of his interview with law enforcement where he said he was confused about the charges and that he sent the messages without much thought while scrolling social media after work. <\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t threaten anyone,\u201d he told investigators, interchanging English and Spanish at times in the interview. \u201cI\u2019m not saying that I was telling them to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Born in Mexico, he\u2019s lived in Chicago for years but doesn\u2019t have citizenship.<\/p>\n The Department of Homeland Security touted Espinoza Martinez’s arrest on social media with unredacted photos of his face, referring to him as a \u201cdepraved\u201d gang member. Bovino has held the case up as an example of the increasing dangers faced by federal agents. Prosecutors included Yonan, the second-highest ranking federal prosecutor in the Chicago region.<\/p>\n But several federal lawsuits in Chicago have fueled skepticism<\/a> about DHS’s narratives. Of the roughly 30 criminal cases stemming from Operation Midway Blitz, charges have been dismissed or dropped in about half. In a notable lawsuit that forced Bovino to sit for depositions, a federal judge found he lied<\/a> under oath including about alleged gang threats.<\/p>\n Nationwide, dozens of criminal cases tied to immigration operations have also crumbled.<\/a><\/p>\n Bovino did not testify at the trial.<\/p>\n Federal prosecutors initially referred to Espinoza Martinez as a \u201cranking member\u201d of the Latin Kings, but their lack of evidence led U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow<\/a> to bar testimony on the Chicago street gang at trial. According to the criminal complaint, Espinoza Martinez allegedly sent messages on behalf of the gang to other gang members.<\/p>\n At trial, there were minor mentions of the gang, including Espinoza Martinez saying in his interview that he had nothing to do with the Latin Kings. His brother, Oscar, testified that he took the Snapchat messages as a joke and something he’d already seen on Facebook.<\/p>\n Singer pointed out holes in the government’s case, including in the testimony of their first witness Adrian Jimenez. <\/p>\n The 44-year-old owns a construction company and had been in touch with Espinoza Martinez over Snapchat about work. Unknown to Espinoza Martinez, he had also worked as a paid government informant over the years and shared the Snapchats with a federal investigator. <\/p>\n Jimenez, who suffers from back problems, walked slowly with a limp to the witness chair and needed help getting up.<\/p>\n \u201cWould you solicit for hire an individual that was in that much pain and could barely walk?\u201d Singer said to jurors. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n