Juan Espinoza Martinez is set to stand trial in Chicago next week.
A federal judge in Chicago will not permit prosecutors to present evidence of the alleged gang ties of a Chicago man charged with issuing a bounty for the killing of Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino, according to a court order Thursday.
Juan Espinoza Martinez had been described by the government as "high-ranking member of the Latin Kings," a Latino street gang, with the "authority to order others members to carry out violent acts, including murder," according to a criminal complaint filed in October. He is set to stand trial next week in the first major federal case tied to "Operation Midway Blitz," the Department of Homeland Security's immigration enforcement operation in Chicago, to be tested before a jury.
But U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow on Thursday dealt the government's case a significant blow, granting a defense motion to exclude testimony about Espinoza Martinez's alleged "ties to or affinity for gangs" because prosecutors failed to produce evidence to substantiate their claims.
"Without evidence showing that defendant is a member of the Latin Kings or that the Latin Kings instructed defendant to send the alleged murder-for-hire information," the introduction of such testimony would be prejudicial to Espinoza Martinez, Judge Lefkow wrote.
Espinoza Martinez, 37, has pleaded not guilty. Through his attorneys, he has denied any affiliation with the Latin Kings.
The arrest of Espinoza Martinez last October was trumpeted by the federal government as a blow against violent gangs and criminal networks who "target those who protect our borders and our communities."
Authorities alleged in a criminal complaint that he had put out a $10,000 bounty for the killing of Bovino, who was leading the controversial "Midway Blitz" operation in Chicago. The government said a confidential source provided investigators with Snapchat messages, allegedly from Espinoza Martinez, offering up the reward and using language and images associated with the Latin Kings.
"10k if u take him down," the message read, according to the complaint. "LK on him," Espinoza Martinez allegedly wrote in reference, prosecutors contend, to the violent street gang. The message allegedly also included alleged gang symbols and a photo of Bovino.
The arrest of Espinoza Martinez -- who the government says is in the US illegally -- came at a particularly volatile time in Chicago. Two days earlier, tense street clashes erupted on the city's south side after a border patrol agent shot and wounded a woman who had been trailing the agents' vehicle in her car, leading to a collision. The wounded woman, Marimar Martinez, was charged with assault on a federal officer but prosecutors later dropped the case.
As the trial date for Espinoza Martinez approached, prosecutors began to walk back the government's allegations that Espinoza was a Latin Kings gang leader or even a member.
At a pretrial conference last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Minje Shin told a judge that the government would not seek to prove Martinez is a gang member, but rather wanted to offer evidence that the defendant has an "affinity" and a "relationship" to the Latin Kings gang.
"I think rather than focusing on the term 'membership,' I do think the main point of the evidence here is the defendant's affinity to the Latin Kings," Shin said, according to a transcript of the hearing.
"That's going to come from the form of his own statements in his post-arrest interview in terms of where he lives, understanding that that was a neighborhood where the Latin Kings operated, that he had family members who were Latin Kings," Shin said. "What we must prove is whether he intended that a murder-for-hire occur, and that absolutely bears on whether his relationship with the Latin Kings is real."
Jonathan Bedi, an attorney for Espinoza Martinez. called the government's evidence of gang affiliation "shockingly thin," and argued that prosecutors should not be permitted to present it because of the effect it could have on jurors.
"There's no gang tattoos. There's no colors," Bedi argued at the hearing last week. "There's no prior arrest. There's no pictures on his phone that they extracted of him throwing up gang signs."
Judge Lefkow on Thursday also denied a request from federal prosecutors to allow their key witness, who has been identified thus far only as "Source of Information-1," to testify using only his first name. The government cited an unspecified social media post that the witness perceived as a threat.
The existence of the social media post, Lefkow ruled, is "insufficient to overcome" the prejudice to the defendant if the jury perceives the witness to be in danger because of his testimony in the case.
The government's cooperating witness will be permitted to testify about how he perceived the messages allegedly sent by Espinoza Martinez, which contained alleged references and symbols connected to the Latin Kings, Lefkow ruled.
Espinoza Martinez is not charged with any gang-related offense and the government does not need to prove gang membership as an element of alleged murder-for-hire scheme.
Attorneys for Espinoza Martinez say he has been living in Chicago for 30 years and has been working a construction job with his brother for more than a decade.
The government has described him as a "criminal illegal alien" and a "thug" who does not belong in the U.S.