By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
A U.S. Border Patrol agent who killed a 16-year-old boy in a cross-border shooting is facing a second trial after he was acquitted of murder earlier this year.
Lonnie Swartz’s second trial was set to begin Tuesday morning on charges of voluntary and involuntary manslaughter, about five years after he fatally shot Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez.
A jury in April acquitted Swartz of murder but deadlocked on the manslaughter charges.
Swartz has been on leave while facing trial.
Prosecutors have argued that Swartz was tired of rock-throwers, so he shot across the border in revenge, killing Rodriguez.
His defense attorneys argue Swartz opened fire because he was protecting himself.
A separate lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of Rodriguez’s mother is wending its way through the courts.
