{"id":424255,"date":"2026-01-23T04:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/424255\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T04:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T04:00:08","slug":"federal-jury-rejects-bovino-murder-plot-after-attorney-calls-on-it-to-stop-the-overreaching-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/424255\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal jury rejects Bovino murder plot after attorney calls on it to ‘stop the overreaching government’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federal authorities slapped all kinds of sinister labels on Chicago\u2019s Juan Espinoza Martinez when they arrested him<\/a> last fall, and they did it for all the world to hear.<\/p>\n

They called him a \u201chigh-ranking member of the Latin Kings.\u201d They called him \u201cdepraved.\u201d They even called him a \u201cthug\u201d as they accused him of offering $10,000 for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino.<\/p>\n

But Thursday, a federal jury called Espinoza Martinez \u201cnot guilty.\u201d In doing so, it put an end to one of the most contentious prosecutions<\/a> to result from \u201cOperation Midway Blitz.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group of regular citizens, led by a teacher who served as the foreperson, answered a call from defense attorney Dena Singer. She urged them in closing arguments to \u201cstand up to the overreaching government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the power here,\u201d she told them. \u201cYour words now matter. You have the power to stop the overreaching government. \u2026 Don\u2019t let them bully. Use your voice. And while the agents and the government did not want to listen to Juan\u2019s voice, they will listen to yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

After deliberating for about three hours, the jury acquitted Espinoza Martinez of one count of murder-for-hire, which carried a maximum of 10 years in prison. They did so after hearing how Bovino last fall became the face of immigration enforcement<\/a> in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Espinoza Martinez, 37, sat stoically in his chair after the verdict was read, but he appeared to be holding back emotions as he briefly lifted his eyes to the ceiling. When the jury left the courtroom, he shared big hugs with Singer and her co-counsel, Jonathan Bedi.<\/p>\n

Still, his future remains uncertain. His lawyers have acknowledged an immigration detainer exists, telling a judge it\u2019s likely to be acted upon. The question was not addressed Thursday after the verdict, and Bedi and Singer left the Dirksen Federal Courthouse without commenting.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Dirksen<\/p>\n

Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 S. Dearborn St. | Rich Hein\/Sun-Times<\/p>\n

Several jurors also declined to speak to a Chicago Sun-Times reporter as they hustled out of the building.<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros\u2019 office did not comment. But Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump\u2019s deputy chief of staff and an architect of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s deportation campaign, reacted to the news on social media by insisting that \u201cleftist judges and juries are empowering violent insurrection against the government in an effort to stop ICE from removing criminal alien invaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Espinoza Martinez is one of 31 known defendants charged in Chicago\u2019s federal court with non-immigration crimes tied to the Trump administration\u2019s aggressive deportation campaign last fall. With Thursday\u2019s acquittal of Espinoza Martinez, 15 of them have now been cleared. 11 defendants have had their charges dropped, and three others resulted in so-called \u201cno bills\u201d where a grand jury found insufficient evidence or probable cause to return an indictment, which was virtually unheard of until recently.<\/p>\n

None of the cases have led to a conviction, so far.<\/p>\n

Espinoza Martinez is the first defendant prosecutors have taken to trial, though. The case against him evolved drastically after criminal charges were first filed in October, when Bedi and Singer insisted on a speedy trial. Prosecutors pressed forward even after U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow<\/a> ruled crucial evidence couldn\u2019t be seen by the jury.<\/p>\n

The original criminal complaint cited a \u201csource of information,\u201d now known to be 44-year-old Adrian Jimenez, who called Espinoza Martinez a \u201cranking member of the Latin Kings.\u201d A Homeland Security press release also called Espinoza Martinez a \u201cLatin Kings gang member.\u201d<\/p>\n

But earlier this month, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Yonan and Assistant U.S. Attorney Minje Shin acknowledged they would not try to prove<\/a> Espinoza Martinez\u2019s gang membership at trial.<\/p>\n

That prompted Lefkow to bar gang evidence<\/a> from the case. She wrote in an order that, \u201cwithout evidence showing that [Espinoza Martinez] is a member of the Latin Kings or that the Latin Kings instructed [Espinoza Martinez] to send the alleged murder-for-hire information, the prejudicial nature of such testimony outweighs any probative value.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an emergency hearing hours after that ruling last week, Yonan told Lefkow that \u201cnearly every piece of evidence in this case touches, in some fashion, on the Latin Kings.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/p>\n

Senior U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow, poses Monday, July 27, 2020, for a portrait in her Chicago home. In 2005, Lefkow returned from work to find her husband and mother shot dead in the basement of her Chicago home. Lefkow was forced to relive her family tragedy this month when a struggling lawyer armed with a gun and a grudge opened fire at the home of another female judge. (AP Photo\/Charles Rex Arbogast) ORG XMIT: ILCA405<\/p>\n

But the trial still kicked off. The feds called only three witnesses<\/a> Wednesday, who testified over the course of nearly three hours, combined. Then, in closing arguments Thursday, Yonan told jurors that Espinoza Martinez was \u201cangry\u201d about immigration enforcement last fall in Little Village, where he lived.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was fixated, and obsessed, with Gregory Bovino,\u201d Yonan told the jury.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors told jurors about a message Espinoza Martinez sent over Snapchat to Jimenez in early October. It followed a picture of Bovino and read, \u201c2k on info cuando lo agarren,\u201d \u201c10k if u take him down,\u201d and \u201cLK \u2026 on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jimenez testified that he understood that to mean \u201c$2,000 when they grab him \u2026 $10,000 if you kill him \u2026 Latin Kings are on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Homeland Security Investigations special agents Chris Perugini and Donald Adams also took the stand to discuss Espinoza Martinez\u2019s interview with federal agents and additional messages allegedly sent by Espinoza Martinez.<\/p>\n

Those messages included the words \u201c10k for his head\u201d below a picture of Bovino, along with \u201cdead or alive\u201d and \u201cs\u2013t serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shin told the jury in closings Thursday that \u201cnobody was pointing the finger\u201d at Espinoza Martinez \u201cuntil he made the choice \u2014 until he used his words.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crime here was complete the moment he sent those words,\u201d Shin argued. \u201cBecause he had the intent that a murder take place when he sent those words.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Singer told the jury, \u201cthe government has failed to prove their case. You know it.\u201d<\/p>\n

No money exchanged hands, she said. No weapons were purchased. Social media, she said, \u201cis riddled with things that aren\u2019t true. \u2026 with people sending and sharing things.\u201d There was no evidence that Espinoza Martinez intended for the murder to happen, or that he took a \u201csubstantial step,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should demand that there\u2019s other evidence before you can convict somebody for this,\u201d Singer said.<\/p>\n

The defense attorney put instructions about the burden of proof on display in the courtroom. Then, she pointed her finger all around the room and said, \u201cthese are protections all of us have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot just them,\u201d she said, pointing only toward the prosecutors. \u201cAll of us in this courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are protections that protect every single one of us,\u201d she told the jury.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe presumption of innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contributing: Anna Savchenko and Sophie Sherry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federal authorities slapped all kinds of sinister labels on Chicago\u2019s Juan Espinoza Martinez when they arrested him last…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":424256,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-424255","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-united-states-of-america","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","14":"tag-us","15":"tag-usa"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424255","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=424255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/424256"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}