A Chicago man was acquitted of a murder-for-hire charge Thursday in the first trial related to “Operation Midway Blitz,” a significant loss for federal prosecutors in a case the Trump administration widely cited as evidence that immigration agents faced violent threats.
Juan Espinoza Martinez was accused of targeting US Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino, the face of the administration’s aggressive Chicago-area deportation campaign. Federal officials initially asserted Martinez was a ranking member of the Latin Kings who put a bounty on Bovino’s head.
The administration repeated its assertion that Bovino was targeted by a gang leader all the way up ...