Jury acquits Border Patrol agent who shot teenager
PHOENIX — An Arizona jury on Wednesday acquitted a U.S. Border Patrol agent of manslaughter in the shooting of a Mexican teen through a border fence.
Jurors in Tucson found Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter but didn’t come to a decision on voluntary manslaughter. Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder by another jury that had deadlocked on manslaughter charges.
“We fully respect the jury’s decision, and we thank every member of the jury for the time and attention given to this trial,” Elizabeth A. Strange, first assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, said in a statement.
Border Patrol agents are rarely criminally charged for using force. But the 2012 killing of 16-yearold Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez sparked outrage on both sides of the border.
Prosecutors said Swartz was frustrated over repeated encounters with people on the Mexico side of the border fence who throw rocks at agents to distract them from smugglers. They say he lost his cool and fatally shot Elena Rodriguez. Swartz fired about 16 rounds, and the boy was hit at least 10 times in the back and head.
Swartz has said he was following his training and defending himself and other law enforcement officers from rocks, which he said could be deadly.
Swartz’s attorney, Sean Chapman, said Elena Rodriguez endangered the lives of the agents and a police officer who was on scene.
Chapman didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the verdict.