A Border Patrol agent charged with second-degree murder in the cross-border shooting of a Mexican teen in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico is asking a federal judge to have jurors make a nighttime visit to the crime scene on the international boundary.
Lonnie Ray Swartz's request was filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. It was unclear when the court would rule.
The defense argues jurors are unlikely to be familiar with the border fence on a steep hill where the shooting occurred.
Swartz is accused of firing through the fence into Mexico, hitting 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez about 10 times.
The agent said the youth threw rocks at him, endangering his life. But the boy's family says he was walking home after playing basketball.
