A jury acquitted a Border Patrol agent of concealing evidence and could not return a verdict on another charge accusing him of using too much force to subdue an illegal immigrant.
The case stemmed from an encounter in the New Mexico desert in 2023, when Agent Eduardo Prat arrested the migrant after a chase.
Later, when handcuffing the man, Mr. Prat made contact with his neck for about two seconds in an incident captured on his body camera.
The Justice Department initially accused the agent of strangling the migrant, but later changed its indictment to unlawful use of force.
Mr. Prat argued that the contact was brief and incidental as he was trying to grab the man’s shirt collar and pull him down off the back of an ATV, which had been used to transport the man.
Mr. Prat said he was reaching to control the migrant because the man had been struggling and was pulling away, plus posed a threat to the agent’s safety.
After trial this week, the jury in New Mexico was unable to reach a verdict Thursday on that allegation.
Prosecutors also accused Mr. Prat of two counts of trying to conceal evidence because he didn’t immediately and properly label the incident on the body camera footage as a questionable use of force.
The jury acquitted Mr. Prat of those charges.
“We feel that the jury verdict was correct based on the evidence presented by both sides,” said Gabriel Perez, the agent’s lawyer.
Prosecutors had painted the incident as the culmination of a tense encounter that began when the migrant ran to try to escape, then finally gave up.
The government said Mr. Prat refused to give the man water, at one point telling him he’d have to pay for it. The man pulled out his wallet, then returned it to his back pocket.
The video shows words being said by the migrant, but there was no audio at that portion of the recording.
