In 2012, Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz shot and killed a sixteen year old Mexican boy, Jose Elena Rodriguez. The federal murder trial over whether the killing was justified recently ended with the jury returning a not guilty verdict for the second degree murder charge.
The jury, however, could not reach an agreement on the lesser charges of involuntary and voluntary manslaughter. The court ordered a mistrial as to those charges, yet the decision to retry those charges has not yet been made. Given the gory, and uncontested, details, it would not be surprising to see the matter retried.
The facts of this case are rather disturbing.
Swartz, unlike the other agents that simply walked away from where the rocks were being thrown, walked towards the border fence, then fired sixteen shots, which required him to reload once. He hit Jose ten times, with only two shots not striking him in the back. One juror explained being absolutely baffled and disgusted by the fact that thirteen additional shots were fired after Jose had fallen. That juror also discussed how emotions ran very hot in the jury room during the deliberations.
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