Saturday, May 12, 2018

US Border Patrol agent to be retried in cross-border killing of Mexican teen

A U.S. Border Patrol agent will be retried in what is reportedly the first prosecution of a border agent involving a fatal shooting across the border. Agent Lonnie Swartz was previously acquitted of second-degree murder in the 2012 death of 16-year-old Mexican youth Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, and jurors deadlocked on lesser counts. On Friday, prosecutors in Tucson, Ariz., said Swartz will now face charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, said Cosme Lopez, a spokesman for the federal court handling the case. Luis Parra, an attorney for the teen's family, said he was with them in the courtroom when the retrial decision was announced. The teen, whom authorities say had been throwing rocks, was slain on a street just south of the U.S. border, in Nogales, Mexico. "I'm relieved and very much appreciate the efforts" of the U.S. attorney's office, Elena Rodriguez’s grandfather said...MORE

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