US agent on trial in killing of teen

TUCSON, ARIZ. — A rare murder trial of a U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of shooting across the international boundary into Mexico in 2012 and killing a teenager started Tuesday with jury selection.

The trial in in U.S. District Court in Tucson comes amid President Donald Trump’s crack- down on illegal immi- gration and his promise to build a wall along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

Lonnie Swartz has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez. The teenager was on a street in Nogales, in the Mexican state of Sonora, just across the border from Nogales, Arizona.

An autopsy showed the unarmed teen was shot 10 times, mostly from behind.

U.S. District Judge Raner Collins asked prospective jurors whether they knew possible witnesses, including a dozen Border Patrol employees, FBI officials and several residents of Nogales, Sonora.

Following jury selection from a pool of 38 prospective jurors, opening statements were expected either later Tuesday or on Wednesday, said Cosme Lopez, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona.

Lee Gelernt, a New York-based lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said he believes Swartz is the first border agent to be prosecuted by the U.S. Justice Department in a fatal shooting across the international border.

Gelernt is handling a civil lawsuit for the teen’s mother, who is seeking monetary damages against Swartz.

[ANITA SNOW/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS] In this Dec. 4 photo, a portrait of 16-year-old Mexican youth Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, who was shot and killed in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, is displayed on the street where he was killed that runs parallel with the U.S. border.