MCALLEN, Texas (AP) - A South Texas jury found a man and his son guilty Friday of two of three counts against them in the 2012 shooting of a federal agent on drug-patrol duty.
The federal jury found Pedro Alvarado and his son Arnoldo Alvarado guilty Friday afternoon of assaulting a federal officer and a weapons crime in the wounding of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Kelton Harrison.
However, the jury deadlocked on a charge of attempted murder of a federal officer against the Alvarados. A mistrial was declared on the count, and prosecutors said they would reveal Monday if they plan to retry on that charge.
In a statement issued after the verdicts, ICE spokeswoman Adelina Pruneda said the department was “satisfied with the two guilty verdicts.”
However, she added, “We are disappointed the jury could not come to an agreement on the remaining charge.”
After the trial, Arnoldo Alvarado’s attorney, Carlos Andres Garcia, said he was disappointed in the outcome of the case.
“I respectfully disagree with the court’s decision to not let us claim self-defense in this case,” Garcia said. “If we had been able to do that, as well as present all of the evidence in order to give the jury a clear picture, the outcome would have been very different.”
Harrison was shot from two vehicles that were chasing his near Hargill in July 2012. Prosecutors say the Alvarado family was involved in drug trafficking, but the defense argued the family acted in self-defense.
Investigators alleged that Pedro Alvarado woke two of his sons the night of July 3, 2012, and that both teens grabbed guns and climbed into their father’s truck. With the elder Alvarado behind the wheel, they chased a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee more than two miles until it ran off the road.
The vehicle was hit by gunfire multiple times, and Harrison was shot once in the back. The bullet remains lodged in his back. Harrison had been conducting surveillance in the area as part of a long-running drug trafficking investigation.
No one has suggested the Alvarados knew Harrison was a federal agent. Harrison recovered and testified for the prosecution in the one-week trial.
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