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A jury has found a man not guilty in a high-profile federal trial involving allegations that he offered a bounty to have a US Border Patrol commander killed.

Getting into it: On Thursday, Juan Espinoza Martinez, a 37-year-old illegal immigrant, was acquitted of a federal murder-for-hire charge after prosecutors alleged he used Snapchat to offer a $10,000 bounty for the killing of Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino. Martinez allegedly sent a message to a friend containing Bovino’s photo with the words, “2k on info when they catch him. 10-k if you take him down.” The friend, who was a paid government informant, shared the message with federal authorities, prompting Martinez’s arrest in October 2025.

At trial, prosecutors argued that Martinez had become “fixated and obsessed” with Bovino, citing additional messages in which he criticized DHS’s immigration crackdowns. They framed the Snapchat message as a genuine and dangerous solicitation to commit murder, not a joke. Bovino, a senior DHS official, has been the public face of aggressive federal immigration operations across multiple US cities and has previously testified in related prosecutions, though he did not testify in this trial. The government also claimed Martinez was affiliated with the Latin Kings gang, but the judge barred any gang-related testimony after finding insufficient evidence.

Martinez’s defense attorney, Dena Singer, countered that the messages were meaningless “neighborhood gossip,” sent casually while Martinez was drinking after work. She argued that her client never followed up on the comments, had minimal money in his bank account, and showed no intent to harm anyone. Singer urged the jury to resist what she described as government overreach and painted the prosecution’s case as an attempt to criminalize angry online speech.

Ultimately, the jury deliberated for a few hours before returning a not guilty verdict. Neither prosecutors nor Martinez’s attorneys commented publicly after the trial. However, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement stressing that the Snapchat messages “do not change the facts” and called on media and politicians to stop “demonizing law enforcement.”

This comes as ICE has placed an immigration detainer on Martinez, which could lead to his deportation.