Agent to be retried in death at border

Mexican teen was shot after throwing rocks

TUCSON — Federal prosecutors said Friday that they would seek a retrial of the U.S. Border Patrol agent who fatally shot a Mexican teenager for throwing rocks through the border fence in Nogales.

In April, a jury found agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting of 16-yearold Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, but jurors were deadlocked on voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.

On Friday, Assistant U.S. Attorney May Sue Feldmeier said in federal court that prosecutors would seek a retrial on those two lesser charges against Swartz, who waived his right to appear in court.

After a brief exchange on scheduling, the case’s presiding judge, U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins, set the start of the new trial for Oct. 23, with a motion hearing scheduled in July.

After the hearing, Araceli Rodriguez,

the slain teen’s mother, said she was happy to have another opportunity to seek justice in her son’s death. Prosecutors informed her of their decision moments before Friday’s hearing.

“I would have liked (the trial) to start sooner, but God’s timing is perfect. There’s a reason why this is happening,” she said outside the courtroom. “At the beginning, I walked out very disappointed, crying, I felt bad. But now I feel happy.”

During the first trial, she and the teen’s grandmother, Taide Elena, were in court every day, at times stepping out when the testimony turned gruesome. Rodriguez said they would return starting in October for the new trial.

Feldmeier said in court that prosecutors don’t expect the new trial “to be shorter than 16 trial days,” comparable to the length of the first one.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on why prosecutors decided to seek a retrial following last month’s not-guilty verdict on second-degreemurder charges, saying doing so could affect future proceedings.

Sean Chapman, Swartz’s defense attorney, limited his reaction to a brief statement outside the courtroom.

“They want to retry, so we’ll retry,” he said. “I’m not surprised, but we’ll retry.”

Swartz is the first Border Patrol agent to be tried in federal court on murder charges for killing someone on or across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The first trial was delayed several times and finally started in April. After nearly three weeks of testimony, the jury split 7-5 and acquitted Swartz on second-degree-murder charges. But they couldn’t agree on the lesser charges, opening the door for the retrial.

Rodriguez said she was willing to wait whatever time is necessary to achieve justice. She also had strong words for Swartz.

“I can assure that he can’t say, ‘I won,’ because what is he winning at? To keep on repeating his lie?” she said. “Because he knows that he killed my son, so he’s fooling himself. And his lawyers, too, they’re fooling themselves, because they know perfectly that it was murder.”

Outside federal court on Friday morning, activists gathered in support of Elena Rodriguez. Tucson police increased their presence around the courthouse. After last month’s notguilty verdict, protesters blocked several intersections, as well as a nearby freeway on-ramp.