Vacated on appeal: Zetas convicted of ICE agent murder, win new sentencing

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat   

The conviction of the two Zetas was vacated on January 21, 2020 and sentences sent  to a lower court for limited re-sentencing.

Jose Emanuel Garcia Sota, aka Juan Manuel Maldonado Amezcua, Zafado or Safado, 34, of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, was charged on May 6, 2013, in a four-count indictment with one count of murder of an officer or employee of the United States; one count of attempted murder of an officer or employee of the United States; one count of attempted murder of an internationally protected person; and one count of using, carrying, brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence causing death.

ICE Special Agent Jaime Zapata was murdered by members of Los Zetas in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, on Feb 15, 2011.  Special Agent Victor Avila suffered critical injuries; they were ambushed by gunfire while on assignment in Mexico.

The agents came under attack by the cartel members while driving on Highway 57, while the Zetas were conducting a narco carjacking operation.  

Attorneys for the defendants  argue that no physical evidence ties them to the shooting and that they are being linked only by the sometimes conflicting accusations of former Zetas  who pleaded guilty and are cooperating to avoid life without parole in U.S. prisons when they are sentenced.

One of those arrested and charged with being the leader of  the group is Julian Zapata Espinoza, 37, aka“El Piolin,”.  He pleaded guilty in 2013.  He says he lead  two, four-man hit squads.

Espinoza said he didn’t see the Chevy Suburban’s diplomatic plates, or understand Avila’s shouts that they were with the U.S. Embassy and diplomats.

As it turns out a flaw in the design of the $160k USD armored Suburban, was the reason gunfire was able to kill and injure the agents.

The SUV was built to withstand high-velocity gunfire, grenades and land mines. However, when put in park, its doors unlocked automatically, a flaw never unaddressed by  the U.S. Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

When Espinoza yanked the handle, the driver’s side door opened.

Everyone was stunned.

The shock gave Zapata time to pull shut his door. But surrounded at gunpoint, confused and perhaps fumbling to relock the doors, Avila, the surviving agent testified, the bulletproof window near him somehow lowered a couple of inches.

Just enough to stick in two barrels, two guns, an AR-15 rifle and a hand gun.

 The attackers kept telling the agents to open the door,  Avila says  “At that moment, they opened fire.”

On November 6, 2017 the two Zetas were sentenced to Life sentences for the murder and attempted murder of the agents.

The defendants, “Zafado,” 36, of San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and Jesus Ivan Quezada Piña, aka “Loco,” 29, of Matamoros, Mexico, are among seven Mexican nationals who were extradited to the United States on federal charges in this case.  

On July 27^th 2017 the two were found guilty by a jury, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and sentenced by the Honorable Judge Royce C. Lamberth.

What the government said after the sentencing:

“The sentences handed down today should serve as a powerful message to drug cartels and other transnational criminal organizations that there is no escape from justice, and that we will not rest until they have been held accountable for their crimes to the fullest extent of the law,” said ICE Acting Director Homan.  “We remain grateful to the government of Mexico, the Department of Justice, and all our partners involved in sending these murderers to prison.  The men and women of ICE will not forget the example of bravery and sacrifice set by Special Agent Zapata as we work to eradicate these criminal networks across the globe.”The defendants were found guilty of four federal offenses: murder of an officer or employee of the United States; attempted murder of an officer or employee of the United States; attempted murder of an internationally protected person; and using, carrying and brandishing and discharging a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence causing death.  During the trial  the government presented testimony from 22 witnesses, including Special Agent Avila. According to the government’s evidence at trial, Garcia Sota and Quezada Piña were members of two Los Zetas hit squads, or “estacas,” and were on a mission on the day of the shootings to steal vehicles for use in the cartel’s operations.  On the afternoon of Feb. 15, 2011, Garcia Sota and Quezada Piña were among a group of cartel members who targeted an armored Chevrolet Suburban bearing diplomatic plates and driven by the special agents on a busy highway south of San Luis Potosi.  Special Agent Zapata and Special Agent Avila were on official business, heading southbound to Mexico City, when the attack took place.  During the ambush, the cartel members fired at and into the agents’ vehicle with handguns and semiautomatic assault weapons, including AK-47 and AR-15 type assault rifles.  Special Agent Zapata, 32, was fatally shot, and Special Agent Avila, then 38, was wounded.  Investigators later found approximately 90 shell casings at the scene, according to the trial evidence. 

Five other defendants previously pleaded guilty to federal charges in this case and are to be sentenced tomorrow.  Ruben Dario Venegas Rivera, aka “Catracho,” 29; Jose Ismael Nava Villagran, aka “Cacho,” 35; Julian Zapata Espinoza, aka “Piolin,” 36; and Alfredo Gaston Mendoza Hernandez, aka “Camaron,” 34, pleaded guilty to federal murder and attempted murder charges between August 2011 and October 2016.  The fifth defendant, Francisco Carbajal Flores, aka “Dalmata,” 42, pleaded guilty in January 2012 to conspiracy to conduct the affairs of an enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity and to being an accessory after the fact to the murder and attempted murder of the ICE HSI agents.  All of the defendants are Mexican nationals, with the exception of Venegas Rivera, who is from Honduras.