CHICAGO — The federal prosecutor who had been heading up a high-profile case alleging a Chicago gang member solicited the murder of Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino is leaving the U.S. attorney’s office just weeks ahead of a scheduled trial.

Bradley Tucker, who joined the U.S. attorney’s office in June 2022 and had been assigned to the Narcotics and Money Laundering Section, would be the latest in a string of federal prosecutors to depart in recent months.

His final day is scheduled to be in early January, said Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office.

It’s not clear why Tucker is leaving. But news of his departure comes a little over a month before he had been scheduled to lead the prosecution of Juan Espinoza Martinez, whose arrest on murder-for-hire charges at the height of Operation Midway Blitz made national headlines amid daily clashes between agents and protesters.

The timing is unusual, particularly given the sensitivity of the Espinoza Martinez case. For more than two months, Bovino and other immigration enforcement leaders have repeatedly held the charges up as an example of the alleged violence toward immigration officials in Chicago and around the country.

Sources also said that Tucker, who came to the office from Chicago law firm Sidley Austin LLP, is leaving before having landed a new position elsewhere, which is an atypical move.

Espinoza Martinez is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 20. With a deadline looming last week for pretrial filings, two other prosecutors filed appearances in the case for the first time, including Jason Yonan, who was recently named first assistant U.S. attorney, reporting directly to U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros.

Tucker could not be reached for comment about the situation. Espinoza Martinez’s lawyer, Jonathan Bedi, declined to comment.

In a written statement to the Tribune, Boutros did not address Tucker’s impending departure, saying instead that violence directed against law enforcement is “among the most serious crimes that any U.S. Attorney has the duty to prosecute faithfully and without fear or favor.”

“We will put forth our best and most sincere efforts to prosecute such cases and hold accountable those who flagrantly seek to destabilize our normal way of life,” Boutros said. “This job requires toughness and grit and a strong resolve to do justice in each and every one of our cases without pulling punches. We will uphold the oath we took. We are full steam ahead.”

While Tucker had been expected to lead the prosecution at Espinoza Martinez’s trial, his absence will likely have little impact on the relatively straightforward case. In the Friday filings, the U.S. attorney’s office identified only three witnesses who will definitely be called to the stand — and two of them are investigating agents.

The list of proposed exhibits by the U.S. attorney’s office is also limited to mostly screenshots of Snapchat messages allegedly culled from the phones of Espinoza Martinez and the lead informant.

According to a criminal complaint filed Oct. 5, Espinoza Martinez, 37, an alleged ranking member of the Latin Kings, told a law enforcement source after an immigration agent shot a woman in the Brighton Park neighborhood “that he had dispatched members of the Latin Kings to the area of the 39th and Kedzie … in response to the shooting.”

A day later, the source showed a screenshot to law enforcement that had been sent to him by Espinoza Martinez depicting a conversation Espinoza Martinez had with an unknown individual, according to the complaint. In that conversation, Espinoza Martinez allegedly said, “lets get some guys out here bro.” The other person wrote back, “Let one of us be in front with the (green gun emoji),” the complaint stated.

The law enforcement source also shared Snapchat messages that Espinoza Martinez had sent him saying, “2k on information when you get him” and “10k if u take him down,” according to the complaint.

The message also stated “LK on him,” which was a reference to the Latin Kings, the complaint alleged.

Included in the message was a photo of Bovino, the Border Patrol “commander at large” who headed up an immigration enforcement surge in California before becoming the public face of Midway Blitz in Chicago. That surge ended Nov. 10, however Bovino returned to the city with a smaller contingent of agents on Tuesday.

Prosecutors have said Espinoza Martinez is not a U.S. citizen and sought to keep him held without bond as a flight risk and danger to the community. Espinoza Martinez’s lawyers initially pushed for a detention hearing, but backed off after being told that immigration officials would likely pick him up as soon as he was released.

In the days after Espinoza Martinez’s arrest, Bovino addressed the charges without identifying himself as the target of the alleged plot.

“It’s a war zone out there,” Bovino told Fox News host Sean Hannity about Chicago. “(Homeland Security) Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned a bounty on the heads of federal agents. That $2,000 to kidnap, $10,000 to kill senior Border Patrol officials and senior ICE officials here in Chicago. Now, Sean, what happens between the kidnapping and the killing portion? That’s something out of a third-world country. Is this America?”

Other federal leaders have alleged the case is part of a coordinated effort by criminal gangs to go after immigration officials, though they’ve offered no further evidence.

Espinoza Martinez’s lawyers, meanwhile, have said that not only is he not a high-ranking Latin King, but he has no gang affiliation at all, and no prior criminal history. The father of three and volunteer youth sports coach was arrested at the construction site where he was working long hours to support his family, his relatives and lawyers said.

In their pretrial filings Friday, the defense argued the jury should not hear any evidence that Martinez has used or possessed drugs in the past, which they said is irrelevant to the charges and would be highly prejudicial.

They also are seeking to bar evidence that Espinoza Martinez lives in Latin Kings territory and that he has a relative who may have been affiliated with the gang “over a decade ago.”

“Even if believed, a family member’s involvement or affiliation in an organization or street gang does not mean that everyone in their family is also part of that organization or street gang,” the defense filing stated. “His family member’s affiliation has no bearing on Mr. Espinoza Martinez’s guilt or innocence of the charge.”

A final pretrial conference in the case is set for Jan. 7 before U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow.

Meanwhile, Tucker is just the latest in a flood of Chicago federal prosecutors who have left the U.S. attorney’s office in recent months, including several section chiefs.

While it’s common to have a turnover with every new administration, the exodus in the past year has been larger and more sustained than usual.

Many blame the shifting policies of the administration of President Donald Trump for the exodus, which have led to unprecedented turmoil and embarrassing episodes such as the disqualification of several Trump-appointed U.S. attorneys and the abrupt dismissal of controversial cases, including the one against former FBI Director James Comey.

In addition to Tucker, several other prosecutors and civil attorneys are parting ways with the U.S. attorney’s office this month.

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