Crime & Law

Jury Selected in Trial of Man Accused in Murder-for-Hire Plot Targeting Border Patrol Chief Greg Bovino

A 12-person jury has been selected in the trial of Juan Espinoza Martinez, the Chicago man accused in an alleged murder-for-hire plot that targeted Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino amid the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement efforts across Chicago.

The jury was selected Tuesday afternoon as the case got underway inside a 17th-floor courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago. Opening statements are slated to begin Wednesday morning.

Federal prosecutors have alleged Espinoza Martinez, 37, posted a Snapchat message offering $10,000 for someone to kill Bovino — the controversial Customs and Border Patrol chief who has overseen several aggressive raids in and around Chicago in recent months.

Espinoza Martinez was arrested on the murder-for-hire charge in October, weeks after the Trump administration launched its “Operation Midway Blitz” enforcement plan targeting northern Illinois.

According to prosecutors, Espinoza Martinez posted a Snapchat message that included a photo of Bovino along with the message “2k on information when you get him” and “10k if u take him down.”

The jury was whittled down from an initial pool of more than 40 people over the course of the morning and early afternoon Tuesday.

While some questioning was done in open court, most prospective jurors were interviewed in private at sidebar, preventing any questions and answers from being heard by anyone else in the courtroom. Bovino’s name was largely absent from the public portion of that process.

One potential juror who was excused said he had a group of friends who’d been tear-gassed. Federal agents, including Bovino himself, repeatedly used tear gas in raids across Chicago late last year.

That questioning was done in private, but attorneys discussed the answers in open court. Details of the tear gas incident were not immediately made clear, but the man told attorneys he would be able to put his feelings about federal immigration agents aside and serve as a fair juror.

The case has been fast-tracked through federal court after Espinoza Martinez demanded a speedy trial. Bovino is not expected to testify. The trial is expected to feature testimony from only a small handful of witnesses and conclude before the end of the week.

Among them is a confidential government source who allegedly told investigators Espinoza Martinez was a member of the Latin Kings and provided investigators with copies of the Snapchat messages.

Based on that, the feds initially identified Espinoza Martinez in a public statement and the initial criminal complaint as a “ranking member” of the Latin Kings street gang. But court documents show prosecutors have since changed course and instead planned to argue that Espinoza Martinez simply has an “affinity” for the gang.

His defense attorney, Jonathan Bedi, argued the government has produced no evidence to support that “bare-bone allegation.”

The source’s name has not yet been announced publicly, but U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow ordered that the person won’t be allowed to take the witness stand without revealing their full name.

Before jury selection began Tuesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Minje Shin argued that Espinoza Martinez viewed “Operation Midway Blitz” as a threat to his community in the heavily Latino Little Village neighborhood.

Shin told the court that Espinoza Martinez had sent messages praising the Latin Kings for fighting back against federal agents, while criticizing other local groups and gangs for not doing the same.

Bedi disagreed with that interpretation and said prosecutors were “grasping so hard” for the inclusion of those messages because their evidence of Espinoza Martinez’s intent was “so weak.”

Already, Lefkow ruled that any testimony regarding Espinoza Martinez’s alleged connections to Latin Kings, gangs in Chicago or any ties to or affinity for gangs he may have will be excluded from trial.

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