PHOENIX (AP) — A jury in Arizona has acquitted a U.S. Border Patrol agent of manslaughter in the cross-border shooting death of a Mexican teen six years ago.
Jurors found Lonnie Swartz not guilty of involuntary manslaughter Wednesday. It was his second trial after another jury acquitted him of second-degree murder and deadlocked on the manslaughter charge earlier this year.
It marks another loss for federal prosecutors in a rare criminal case against an agent for using force.
Swartz said he was defending himself and other law enforcement officers from rock-throwers when he shot at 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez through a border fence. The boy was shot in the back about 10 times.
Prosecutors said Swartz was fed up with rock-throwers and lost his temper when he opened fire.
