Agent cleared in road rage shooting
A jury needed only a few minutes Thursday to decide former combat soldier-turned-federal-agent Angel Echevarria was not guilty of charges related to firing his gun at the car of another motorist in Boca Raton.
Before leaving the courtroom, the three women and three men of the panel took turns hugging Echevarria, his eyes teary from the display of gratitude by those who just decided his fate after a road rage dispute.
Oneby one, the jurors thanked aman they saw as an American hero — definitely not a criminal for shooting at the car of a motorist whom Echevarria claimed had threatened his family, first on Glades Road, and then with a gun outside Town Center mall in2013.
“He’s done a lot for our country,” juror Rita Kaiser said of the man credited for bringing dangerous fugitives to justice among other acts of valor. “We all asked the same question: Why were we there?”
Palm Beach County Circuit Judge John Kastrenakes told the jurors after the verdict that he had been “tempted” to stop the trial and acquit Echevarria, 44, prior to deliberations. But the judge said he expected they would reach the right decision on two felony counts of aggravated assault with a firearm.
Kastrenakes then turned to Echevarria and asked him to “continue to work for the citizens of this country” as a Department of Homeland Security senior special agent and deputy U.S. Marshal.
“You now know what it is like to be falsely accused of a crime,” the judge said, asking the agent to try to learn from the “horrible” event in his life. “Go arrest some bad guys.”
In an interview after the verdict, Echevarria thanked the jurors, his attorneys, family, and friends from work who watched the three-day trial.
Alla Juma, the other motorist who prosecutors said was the victim in the case, later told the SunSentinel he was shocked by the outcome. The cook from Pompano Beach called the 4-year-old prosecution and trial “awaste of time.”
“He’s going to have the la won his side,” Juma said of Echevarria, still upset that the agent fired a bullet at his car.
But juror Kaiser said she and the other jurors immediately concluded there was no doubt Echevarria acted in self-defense.
“What right did we have to put him on trial?” she asked.
In his closing argument Thursday, defense attorney Bruce Lehr blasted the filing of charges by prosecutors as “a disgrace,” because the agent was “doing his job” when he used his gun moments after seeing Juma reach for a weapon.
Lehr questioned why Boca Raton police never charged Juma, despite numerous alleged crimes in the violent confrontation that began in the eastbound lanes of Glades Road near the mall on the afternoon of Sept. 7, 2013.
He said the uncharged offenses include carrying a concealed firearm, possession of marijuana, and assault for hitting Echevarria and his wife with the car while leaving the mall grounds.
And Lehr, with co-counsel Andrew Levi, asked the jurors to question why the State Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute Juma, 30, on separate, 2016 reckless driving and child neglect charges involving a high-speed, one-car crash on Florida’s Turnpike.
“Whatever is going on here is wrong,” he said. “What is being covered up here?”
Prosecutor J.D. Small told the jurors that it’s “ridiculous” to suggest any type of conspiracy against Echevarria, who recklessly “took the lawin his own hands.”
“When law enforcement officers violate the law, they need to be prosecuted,” Small said.
Before the trial, Echevarria rejected a plea offer calling for a five-year state prison sentence. A married father of five, Echevarria had faced a minimum 20-year prison term if convicted.
Prosecutors Small and Bryan Poulton said they took no pleasure in putting the agent on trial. They asked the jury to disregard the claims by Echevarria and his wife Elvia Lopez that Juma was reaching for a gun when Echevarria pulled his SUV up to Juma’s car in front of the Nordstom department store.
The encounter happened minutes after Juma and his younger brother both gave Echevarria the middle finger. Echevarria, traveling to a birthday party with his family, wound up hitting another car, which the agent said was a result of Juma’s erratic driving.
“What happened was, they were so angry at the road rage incident,” Poulton said in his closing argument. “Oh, flip us off? Cause a fender-bender? Man, you don’t know who you’re messing with. I’ve got a badge. I’ve got a gun. Honey, let’s go get them, let’s go find them.”
There’s no dispute that Juma, whowas driving a red Toyota Camry and headed to the mall to pick up his wife, had cut off Echevarria’s black Honda Pilot to get into the far right lane on Glades. And the parties agree that Echevarria then honked his horn and Juma and his brother in the passenger seat both turned and raised their middle fingers.
But Poulton said Juma didn’t have enough time to reach for his gun, and the Jum as were startled.
“They see a mad man from the road rage incident, with a gun,” Poulton said. “They had no idea he was a cop.”
Jurors watched surveillance videos from inside and outside Nordstrom, which showed the vehicles involved but not the actual shooting.
“When I saw him reach down for the weapon, I was taking a law enforcement action at that point ,” Echevarria testified .“They already tried to kill us on the road.”
But Juma told the jury he never touched his gun and felt like his life was in danger when Echevarria came at himwith a gun.
“I’m shocked, is this guy for real?” Juma testified. “He’s pissed off that much because I cut him off?”
After the verdict, Echevarria said he was especially grateful to the National Police Defense Foundation, which established a legal defense fund for his case.
“They backed me from the beginning,” the agent said.
Joe Occhipinti, executive director for the foundation, told his members that Echevarria was the victim and Juma should have been arrested because of his actions.
“In light of the anti-police atmosphere, prosecutors find it ‘politically correct’ to make those criminals their prosecution witnesses resulting in the law enforcement officer becoming the defendant,” Occhipinti wrote in a letter to police across the nation.