Border Patrol agent will be retried in cross-border killing

PHOENIX — A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was acquitted of second-degree murder while jurors deadlocked on lesser counts will be retried in the crossborder shooting of a rockthrowing teen, prosecutors announced Friday in Arizona.

Agent Lonnie Swartz will be retried on voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges, said Cosme Lopez, a spokesman for the federal court.

The prosecution did not plan to issue a statement on the decision, he said.

Defense attorneys Sean Chapman and Jim Calle did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Activists had called for the retrial while rallying outside the U.S. District Court building before the hearing in the first prosecution of a border agent involving a fatal shooting across the border.

The jury in the first trial declared a mistrial last month after they acquitted Swartz of murder and deadlocked on verdicts involving voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

Elena Rodriguez was killed in 2012 when Swartz fired 16 shots through a 20-foot fence on an embankment above Calle Internacional, a Nogales street lined with homes and small businesses.

Prosecutors acknowledged during the monthlong trial that the teen was lobbing rocks across the border during a drug smuggling attempt but said he did not deserve to die.

Defense attorneys countered that Swartz was justified in using lethal force against rock-throwers and shot from the U.S. side of the border in self-defense.

Court records say the new trial is set to begin Oct. 23.