Politics & Government
No Verdict In Border Agent Murder Case, Jury Wraps Second Day
The jury in federal court in Tucson wrapped their second day deliberating the case of Border Agent Lonnie Swartz, who is charged with murder
TUCSON, AZ – The jury hearing the case of the border agent charged with second degree murder for killing a teenager across the border with Mexico, finished a second day of deliberations without reaching a verdict.. The trial of Lonnie Swartz in federal court in Tucson began March 20.
The jurors are off on Thursday and will be back at it on Friday. In addition to the second-degree murder charges that Swartz faces, the judge told jurors that they can also consider charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
It was the night of October 10, 2012 when Swartz started firing through the 20-foot wall that separated a section of Nogales, Arizona from Nogales in the state of Sonora in Mexico.
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He struck and killed 16-year-old Elena Rodriguez who was on the street in Mexican Nogales. (Get Tucson Patch's daily newsletter and real-time news alerts. Or, find your local Patch here and subscribe).
While Swartz's lawyers have argued that Rodriguez was throwing rocks at the agents to create a distraction so drug smugglers, prosecutors say that it doesn't matter. What does matter, they say, is that Swartz used an unreasonable amount of force.
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The investigation showed that Rodriguez was unarmed. An autopsy showed that Rodriguez had been shot 10 times, mostly as he faced away from where Swartz was.
The jury got the case late Monday.
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