A federal judge in Indiana has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deporting a Chicago man acquitted last month of soliciting $10,000 for the murder of a Border Patrol commander. The ruling, issued by Judge James Hanlon, indicates that Juan Espinoza Martínez, 37, is likely entitled to a bond hearing that could lead to his release.
Espinoza Martínez has been in federal custody since his arrest on murder-for-hire charges in early October, according to court records. A federal jury deliberated for approximately three hours on before finding him not guilty. However, he was immediately detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
U.S. Authorities allege that Espinoza Martínez is in the country illegally. He has since been held at the Clay County Justice Center in Brazil, Indiana. His attorney, Michael Adler, filed a petition on Monday in the Southern District of Indiana challenging his detention.
Adler argued to the judge that Espinoza Martínez has lived in Chicago for 30 years and has worked for the past decade at his brother’s construction company. “He has never been convicted of a crime,” Adler wrote in court filings. “He has never given anyone any reason to doubt his character. Prior to this, Mr. Espinoza Martínez was simply a hardworking man with deep roots in his community who went to work and took his children to their soccer games.”
The arrest followed immediately after his acquittal. Adler detailed the sequence of events: “When he was being released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago, Illinois, [Espinoza Martínez] was arrested by [Department of Homeland Security].” He was then “quickly transferred and is now detained at the Clay County Detention Center in Brazil, Indiana.”
The Department of Homeland Security initiated deportation proceedings against Espinoza Martínez on the day of his arrest, as outlined in Adler’s filing. Adler further stated that Espinoza Martínez “faces the possibility of months, or even years, in immigration custody, separated from his family, his 3-year-old son, his other two minor children, and his community, without ever having had an individual hearing justifying his detention.”
In his order, Judge Hanlon stated that the “weight” of legal authority supports Espinoza Martínez’s position that he is “entitled, at a minimum, to a bond hearing and is not subject to mandatory detention.” The judge ordered the Trump administration not to remove Espinoza Martínez “outside the jurisdiction of the United States,” or even outside the Seventh Circuit – encompassing Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin – while the litigation is ongoing.
Hanlon has directed federal officials to respond to Espinoza Martínez’s petition by . He has given Espinoza Martínez’s attorneys until to reply. A ruling is not expected before then.
Judge Hanlon was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018.
The initial charges against Espinoza Martínez included allegations that he was a “high-ranking member of the Latin Kings,” but prosecutors did not attempt to prove this claim at trial. Without that assertion, District Judge Joan Lefkow excluded evidence related to gangs from Espinoza Martínez’s trial.
The case centered on a message Espinoza Martínez sent to someone via Snapchat. The message, following a photo of Commander Gregory Bovino, read: “2k on info when they get him,” “10k if they take him down,” and “LK … on him.” Adrian Jimenez, the recipient of the message, testified that he understood this to mean “$2,000 when they catch him … $10,000 if they kill him … the Latin Kings are on him.” Jimenez stated he immediately turned the message over to authorities.
Commander Bovino was the public face of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign launched in Chicago last year, known as Operation Midway Blitz.
Prosecutors also presented separate messages Espinoza Martínez sent to his brother, including “10k for his head” beneath a photo of Bovino, along with “dead or alive” and “it’s serious.” However, defense attorneys Jonathan Bedi and Dena Singer pointed out that no money was exchanged, no weapons were purchased, and that “social media is full of things that aren’t true,” according to Singer.
“They should require that there be other evidence before they can convict someone of this,” Singer told the jury.
The Department of Homeland Security continues to refer to Espinoza Martínez on its website as a “Latin Kings gang member.” Similarly, it continues to describe Marimar Martínez, a woman shot five times by a Border Patrol agent in Chicago, as a “domestic terrorist,” despite criminal charges against her being dropped by the office of prosecutor Andrew Boutros.
