Two Los Zetas cartel assassins have had their convictions partially vacated in the killing of a federal agent in Mexico nine years ago, according to a new report.
Jose Emanuel “Zafado” Garcia Sota and Jesus Ivan “Loco” Quezada Pina had been convicted of four counts in the murder of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata in San Luis Potosi. A jury in Washington returned the verdict in 2017.
ICE agent Jaime Zapata
Last month, a DC federal appeals court vacated their convictions on two of those counts — murder and attempted murder of a federal officer, The Monitor newspaper in McAllen, Texas, reported Saturday. The court reached its decision on technical grounds.
Garcia Sota, 39, and Quezada Pina, 32, are serving life sentences in prison on those two counts.
They are also serving life on a third count they asked the court to overturn — use of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence causing death. The court rejected their appeal on that count.
The two men had also been sentenced to 20 years in prison on the fourth count, which criminalizes the killing of certain persons protected under international law. They did not challenge that conviction.