Crime & Law

Chicago Man Acquitted in Greg Bovino Murder-for-Hire Plot Cannot be Deported, Judge Rules

A federal judge has barred the Trump administration from deporting a Chicago man who was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody last month shortly after he was acquitted of placing a $10,000 bounty on the head of Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino.

U.S. District Judge James Hanlon on Tuesday ruled that Juan Espinoza Martinez is likely “at minimum entitled to a bond hearing and not subject to mandatory detention” after he was taken into custody in Chicago last month.

Hanlon in his three-page ruling ordered that Espinoza Martinez not be moved “outside the jurisdiction of the United States” or transferred to any federal judicial district outside of Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin.

Espinoza Martinez, a 37-year-old carpenter who lives in Little Village, filed a habeas corpus petition seeking his release from custody weeks after a 12-person jury in Chicago found him not guilty of a murder-for-hire plot that allegedly targeted Bovino.

Espinoza Martinez was accused of sending a Snapchat message last October to his brother and an acquaintance that included a photo of Bovino along with the message “2k on information when you get him” and “10k if u take him down.”

That acquaintance quickly forwarded the message to Homeland Security investigators leading to Espinoza Martinez’s arrest.

Federal prosecutors at trial claimed this message represented a “specific incentive encouraging a specific action taken against a specific individual.”

Bovino was the public face of the Trump administration’s drastically expanded immigration enforcement operations that largely targeted Latino communities like Little Village and prosecutors said Espinoza Martinez had become “fixated and obsessed” with him.

But Espinoza Martinez’s defense team argued he was simply sharing neighborhood gossip and took no steps toward putting any actual murder plot into motion.

Jurors appeared to agree, reaching their verdict after just three hours of deliberation inside the Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago. Despite the acquittal, Espinoza Martinez was taken into ICE custody less than a day later, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

ICE records indicate he remains in custody at the Clay County Justice Center in Brazil, Indiana as of Wednesday morning.

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