The jury found Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz not guilty of second-degree murder, but was unable to reach a verdict on two lesser charges of voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, the judge said Monday afternoon.
Swartz is accused of shooting through the border fence in Nogales in 2012 and killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodríguez, a Mexican teen who was said to be among a group throwing rocks across the border.
After four days of deliberation, in a weeks-long trial, the jurors informed U.S. District Court Judge Raner Collins Monday of their belief they would not be able to reach a unanimous verdict on the two lesser charges.
Lonnie Swartz, left, with attorneys outside the courtroom as the trial began weeks ago.
Swartz is said to have fired his pistol 16 times in 34 seconds, from three different positions. The teen was struck eight times in the back and twice in the head. The government has said the fact that Swartz continued to shoot Elena Rodríguez after he was alive on the ground and showed the agent acted deliberately or recklessly with disregard for human life.
While Sean Chapman, one of two attorneys representing Swartz, doesn’t contest the agent shot and killed the teen, he has said it was justified, and because the teen was killed by one of the first shots, the rest of them are legally irrelevant.
The defense described a chaotic scenario in a dangerous area along the border known for smuggling and where rocking are not uncommon. Swartz testified he had to make a split-second decision and elected to defend himself and his fellow law enforcement officers that night.
