Jury finds Chicago man not guilty of circulating $10K bounty on life of
top Border Patrol leader
[January 23, 2026]
By SOPHIA TAREEN
CHICAGO (AP) — A man accused of offering a $10,000 bounty over Snapchat
for the life of a top Border Patrol leader was found not guilty on
Thursday in the first criminal trial stemming from the Chicago-area
immigration crackdown that started last year.
Jurors deliberated less than 4 hours before returning the favorable
verdict for 37-year-old Juan Espinoza Martinez. He faced one count of
murder-for-hire and up to 10 years in prison if convicted. Testimony
lasted mere hours in the federal trial that was the latest test of the
Trump administration’s credibility on federal surges that have played
out from Minnesota to Maine.
Espinoza Martinez, who wore a suit and tie, listened intently with his
arms crossed near his stomach. He hugged his attorneys and shook their
hands after court adjourned.
Attorneys for the defense declined comment. Prosecutors did not address
reporters waiting in the lobby of the federal court in downtown Chicago.
Neither did jurors.
At the heart of the government’s case were Snapchat messages sent from
Espinoza Martinez to his younger brother and a friend who turned out to
be a government informant. One read in part “10k if u take him down,”
along with a picture of Gregory Bovino, a Border Patrol official who has
led aggressive crackdowns nationwide, including in the Chicago area.
“Those words do not indicate that this was a joke,” First Assistant U.S.
Attorney Jason Yonan told jurors during Thursday's closing arguments.
“Those words have meaning. They are not innocent and harmless words.”
But defense attorneys said the government didn’t show any evidence
against Espinoza Martinez who sent the messages as “neighborhood gossip”
after coming home from work and unwinding with beers. He didn’t follow
up on the exchanges and had only a few dollars in his bank account.
“Sending a message about gossip that you heard in the neighborhood, it’s
not murder for hire,” his defense attorney Dena Singer told jurors.
“It’s not a federal crime.”
Her office did not return a message seeking comment after the verdict.
Neither did the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago or the Department of
Homeland Security.
In court, prosecutors accused Espinoza Martinez of being “fixated and
obsessed” with Bovino and cited other messages where he criticized the
crackdown.
Espinoza Martinez was arrested in October as the city of 2.7 million and
surrounding suburbs were seeing a surge of federal immigration officers.
Protests and standoffs with agents were common, particularly in the
city’s heavily Mexican Little Village neighborhood where Espinoza
Martinez lived.
He did not testify at his trial.
But attorneys played clips of his interview with law enforcement where
he said he was confused about the charges and that he sent the messages
without much thought while scrolling social media after work.
[to top of second column]
|
U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino speaks during a news
conference Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP
Photo/Angelina Katsanis)
“I didn’t threaten anyone,” he told investigators, interchanging
English and Spanish at times in the interview. “I’m not saying that
I was telling them to do it.”
Born in Mexico, he’s lived in Chicago for years but doesn’t have
citizenship.
DHS touted Espinoza Martinez’s arrest on social media with
unredacted photos of his face, referring to him as a “depraved” gang
member. Bovino has held the case up as an example of the increasing
dangers faced by federal agents. Prosecutors included Yonan, the
second-highest ranking federal prosecutor in the Chicago region.
But several federal lawsuits in Chicago have fueled skepticism about
DHS’s narratives. Of the roughly 30 criminal cases stemming from
Operation Midway Blitz, charges have been dismissed or dropped in
about half. In a notable lawsuit that forced Bovino to sit for
depositions, a federal judge found he lied under oath including
about alleged gang threats.
Bovino did not testify at Espinoza Martinez’s trial.
Nationwide, dozens of criminal cases tied to immigration operations
have also crumbled.
Federal prosecutors initially referred to Espinoza Martinez as a
“ranking member” of the Latin Kings, but their lack of evidence led
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow to bar testimony on the Chicago
street gang at trial. According to the criminal complaint, Espinoza
Martinez allegedly sent messages on behalf of the gang to other gang
members.
At trial, there were minor mentions of the gang, including Espinoza
Martinez saying in his interview that he had nothing to do with the
Latin Kings. His brother, Oscar, testified that he took the Snapchat
messages as a joke and were something he’d already seen on Facebook.
Singer poked holes in the government’s case, including in the
testimony of their first witness Adrian Jimenez.
The 44-year-old owns a construction company and had been in touch
with Espinoza Martinez over Snapchat about work. Unknown to Espinoza
Martinez, he had also worked as a paid government informant over the
years after serving a prison sentence for a felony. He shared the
Snapchats with a federal investigator.
Jimenez, who suffers from back problems, walked slowly with a limp
to the witness chair and needed help getting up.
“Would you solicit for hire an individual that was in that much pain
and could barely walk?” Singer said to jurors. “That doesn’t make
any sense.”
All contents © copyright 2026 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
