TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - The Latest on the second trial of a Border Patrol agent in federal court in Tucson (all times local):
3:50 p.m.
A jury has been selected to serve on the second trial for a Border Patrol agent who fatally shot a Mexican teen through a border fence five years ago.
Opening statements are now scheduled for Wednesday morning in the manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter case against Lonnie Swartz. Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder earlier this year in the cross-border shooting of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez. A jury deadlocked on other charges.
Federal prosecutors haven’t said why they decided to re-try Swartz. Prosecutors during the first case said he had grown angry at rock-throwers and lost his temper when he shot Elena Rodriguez 10 times in the back.
Swartz’s attorneys say he was defending himself and his fellow agents from rock-throwers.
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11:25 a.m.
Jury selection in the second trial against a Border Patrol agent who killed a Mexican teen has begun in federal court in Tucson.
A pool of prospective jurors is being asked questions by a judge on the first day of the manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter trial against Lonnie Swartz.
Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder earlier this year in the2013 cross-border shooting of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez.
A jury deadlocked on lesser counts and Swartz is being retried on manslaughter charges.
Swartz shot Elena Rodriguez in the back through the fence dividing Arizona and Mexico in October 2013.
His attorney has said he was defending himself against rock-throwers.
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A U.S. Border Patrol agent will face a second trial Tuesday in the killing of a 16-year-old Mexican teen across the international border.
Lonnie Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder in Tucson earlier this year and now will be tried on voluntary and involuntary manslaughter charges.
The case stems from a cross-border shooting in 2012 that left Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez, a boy from Nogales, Mexico, dead.
Authorities say Elena Rodriguez was throwing rocks at Swartz, who shot the boy at least 10 times in the back through a border fence.
Swartz’s first trial ended in a mistrial after the jury acquitted Swartz of murder and deadlocked on verdicts involving voluntary and involuntary manslaughter.
Swartz is also facing a civil lawsuit filed on behalf of Elena Rodriguez’s mother.
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