Feds won't try to prove gang membership for man charged with putting a bounty on Greg Bovino

Federal prosecutors say they will not set out to prove that a Chicago man accused of offering $10,000 for the murder of U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino is also a ranking member of the Latin Kings if his case goes to trial later this month.

Rather, they told a judge Wednesday they intend to show Juan Espinoza Martinez’s “affinity” for the gang, giving context to the social media messages he allegedly used to further a plot against the controversial immigration official.

Defense attorney Jonathan Bedi called it a “big pullback” by the feds during the same hearing. He also accused prosecutors of tying Espinoza Martinez to the gang with “shockingly thin” evidence, amounting to little more than the location of his home in Little Village.

Bedi said it was “atrocious," and that Espinoza Martinez intends to testify.

It all signaled that a hard-fought, contentious trial is on track to begin at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse in less than two weeks — the first to result from the feds’ “Operation Midway Blitz” deportation campaign.

If the trial goes forward Jan. 20, it will be a major test for federal prosecutors. Though at least 31 people have been charged with non-immigration crimes tied to the campaign, charges have already been dropped against 14. No one has been convicted, so far.

Beyond that, Justice Department officials have gone as far as citing the allegations against Espinoza Martinez before the U.S. Supreme Court — prompting Justice Samuel Alito to point to such claims in his dissenting opinion last month about the deployment of National Guard troops.

Soon, it could be up to a jury to decide whether prosecutors can prove the claim beyond a reasonable doubt. But U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow, who presides over the case, said Wednesday that even jury selection could be a “pretty dicey situation,” given how recently Bovino and his fellow agents have appeared in Chicago.

Prosecutors say they want to ask potential jurors for their opinion of the feds’ immigration campaign. Meanwhile, Bovino appeared in headlines again Wednesday after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent fatally shot a woman who was a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis.

“I would not want a jury that has either all negative or all positive views about immigration and Border Patrol because, you know, both views are part of our community,” Lefkow told the lawyers Wednesday.

The important thing, she said, is whether jurors can “set their views aside.”

The criminal complaint originally filed against Espinoza Martinez in October cited an anonymous “source of information,” who accused Espinoza Martinez of being a “ranking member of the Latin Kings.”

Prosecutors say Espinoza Martinez sent that person a picture of Bovino by Snapchat in early October. A message allegedly followed that said, “2k on info cuando lo agarren,” “10k if u take him down,” and “LK … on him.”

Authorities say that meant Espinoza Martinez had offered a $2,000 reward for information about Bovino, as well as a $10,000 reward for his murder, while indicating the Latin Kings were involved.

Prosecutors have also pointed to text messages in which Espinoza Martinez allegedly wrote “my guys are ready in the vill,” “saints, sds, and 2six being b----es,” “Chapo has our back bro. if they they take one its gunna be bad,” and “sinaloa dont f--- around.”

Bedi and his co-counsel, Dena Singer, have denied any ties between Espinoza Martinez and a street gang. They’ve asked Lefkow to bar evidence that his home is in “Latin King territory,” and the judge is still considering it.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Minje Shin explained Wednesday that prosecutors have not abandoned their theory that Espinoza Martinez is a member of the Latin Kings. He said the anonymous source believes it, and jurors might reach the same conclusion.

However, he and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Yonan argued the crucial question will be whether the words written by Espinoza Martinez to the source “were real to him and whether he was taking it seriously.”

That evidence will come in the form of Espinoza Martinez’s own statements to law enforcement, his references to violence committed by the Latin Kings, and where he lives, Shin told the judge.

The evidence, in its “totality,” will establish Espinoza Martinez’s “affinity to the Latin Kings,” the prosecutor explained.

Bedi countered that such evidence could implicate “every single person that lives in Little Village,” or “every single person that lives in what would be a non-affluent part of Chicago.” He went on to call it “probably one of the most prejudicial things I’ve heard a U.S. attorney say.”

But Yonan said the evidence at trial is “going to be more than what Mr. Bedi has set forth.”

“We’re not trying to make this case about gang membership,” Yonan said. “I hear Mr. Bedi trying to make this case about gang membership.”