A jury has found FBI Agent Eduardo Valdivia not guilty on all four criminal counts in the December 2020 shooting of a man, later identified as a panhandler, following a "verbal exchange" on a Red Line train in Bethesda, Maryland.
It took the jury around three hours to reach a verdict in this case. 7News Reporter Kevin Lewis was in the courtroom when the verdict came down. Lewis says some people in attendance broke down in tears as the verdicts were read.
The prosecution didn’t have the panhandler testify at trial. Sources tell 7News that the panhandler is currently incarcerated. We also learned that D.C. Police arrested the panhandler on at least two occasions in 2022 for assaulting a Metrobus driver, and in another case, a restaurant worker.
7News spoke to a juror, who wanted to remain anonymous, after the court hearing.
“He went back towards the FBI agent, that’s what made it more, that he was the aggressor. Eventually, we came to the decision that it was a full defense,” the juror said, adding the prosecution didn’t provide enough evidence," the juror said.
The attorneys representing Agent Valdiviait said they're “befuddled” as to why the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office brought these charges.
Head lawyer Robert Bonsib said he got teary-eyed when the jury read the not-guilty verdict.
“We felt he was the victim of an inappropriate prosecution from the very beginning," Bonsib said. “The last thing in the world that the prosecution wanted this jury to see is the face and demeanor of [the alleged victim]."
Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said this matter was taken to the grand jury, which chose to indict.
“I don’t regret doing my job. I don’t regret following what the law is I think there was a real legal issue to be determined And now the people of Montgomery County have spoken about it.”
Police said Valdivia shot a man after a verbal exchange aboard a Metro Red Line train in December 2020.
Valdivia and the man were on a Red Line Metro train on Dec. 15 when they got into a "verbal exchange" before the shooting took place, Metro Transit Police said. The department also said the agent "discharged his weapon several times," leaving the injured man with multiple gunshot wounds.
The shooting led to a temporary suspension of the Red Line train service between Grosvenor and Friendship Heights. While Montgomery County Police were first on the scene, the Metro Transit Police Department was the lead investigating agency.
Valdivia was later charged with attempted second-degree murder, first-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and use of a handgun in a felony for the shooting.
On Thursday, the Montgomery County State’s Attorney's Office released a three minutes and fifty-one seconds long surveillance video of the shooting. The video shows the moment on December 15, 2020, when police said Valdivia shot a passenger on a Metro train.