SAN DIEGO (Reuters) – A federal jury on Tuesday found a Mexican drug trafficker guilty of second degree murder for killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent by deliberately swerving a truck at him in a dash back to Mexico to escape arrest.

According to the evidence presented at trial Jesus Navarro Montes, 25, struck U.S. Border Patrol agent Luis Aguilar with a Hummer H2 truck on January 19, 2008, in southern California, as he attempted to flee to Mexico.

Earlier that day, Border Patrol agents at the Imperial Sand Dunes close to the Mexico border in southern California spotted a pickup truck they suspected of smuggling narcotics, which was followed by the Hummer.

Aguilar and another agent set out a spike strip across an access road to stop the vehicles. But the Hummer swerved to avoid it, striking Aguilar before speeding south into Mexico. Aguilar died of his injuries at the scene.

Navarro was arrested in Mexico and extradited last year to the United States to stand trial.

After two hours of deliberation, the jury also found Navarro guilty on federal charges of conspiring to distribute marijuana.

"Our Office is gratified by the jury's verdict in this case and appreciates the service of each juror," Laura E. Duffy, the U.S. Attorney for the southern district of California, said in a statement.

The prosecution team's efforts "honored agent Aguilar and the devastating impact this senseless crime has had on his family and colleagues," she said.

Navarro's defense had argued during the two-week trial that there was no forensic evidence or eyewitness testimony placing him behind the wheel of the speeding sport utility vehicle that struck and killed Aguilar.

Navarro pleaded guilty last month to a charge dating from a previous drug smuggling attempt in September 2007, in which he was arrested by Border Patrol agents as he drove a pickup truck packed with 979 pounds of marijuana, accompanied by an unidentified woman passenger.

While under arrest in a Border Patrol vehicle, the woman passenger jumped into the driver's seat and drove them both back to Mexico.

In an unusual legal defense in his murder trial, Navarro claimed that the loss of a large load of marijuana, together with his arrest and escape from federal custody, had caused him to dropped by his Mexican drug smuggling ring. That is why, he argued, other members of the drug ring testified against him.

U.S. District Judge Michael M. Anello scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 27, at 9:00 a.m.

Navarro faces a maximum prison sentence of 40 years on the drugs charges and a maximum sentence of life in prison on the murder charge.

(Writing by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Peter Bohan)

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The judge overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's investment firm on Tuesday rejected requests by banks to keep secret the names of current and former employees mentioned in lawsuits seeking to recover alleged improper profits tied to the imprisoned Ponzi schemer.

The public disclosure of names of workers affiliated with financial institutions including Citigroup Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and UBS AG was ordered by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Burton Lifland.

These names were used in lawsuits filed by Irving Picard, the trustee liquidating Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, to recover money for former Madoff investors, but the names were redacted from publicly distributed versions of the lawsuits. Picard has filed more than 1,000 lawsuits seeking to recover roughly $100 billion.

News media including New York Times Co and Comcast Corp's NBC News, CNBC and WNBC-TV had requested that the names be revealed.

Banks countered that disclosure was unnecessary, and could stigmatize the employees or suggest misconduct.

"The public has a qualified First Amendment right to access certain judicial documents," and the federal bankruptcy code "creates a strong presumption that court records in bankruptcy proceedings are accessible to the public," Lifland wrote.

"At bottom," the judge added, "the defendants have not adequately established any harm beyond merely embarrassing or prejudicial association with these Ponzi scheme proceedings."

Lifland did allow JPMorgan to keep under seal information concerning its "know-your-customer" and anti-money laundering procedures.

The trustee is suing JPMorgan, Madoff's main bank, to recover $6.4 billion.

Representatives of Citigroup, JPMorgan and UBS did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Picard himself had opposed a broad-based ruling to keep names secret.

"Other than when an individual is named as a defendant, it is the institution which is charged with liability for its role in turning a blind eye to indicia of fraud," his lawyer, David Sheehan, wrote in a March 18 letter to Lifland. "Individuals played a variety of roles, including that of apprising others of potential fraud at BLMIS. Under these circumstances, a blanket ruling that all identities should remain redacted does not appear warranted."

The case is In re: Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 08-01789.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Gary Hill)

DETROIT (Reuters) – Federal agents executed search warrants at several Detroit area locations on Tuesday including a medical marijuana facility owned by a businessman who owns a long-closed auto plant that has become a symbol of Detroit's decline.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, state and local law enforcement agencies conducted the searches at offices in northwest suburban Detroit, Andrew Eiseman, group supervisor for the DEA in Detroit, said.

Eiseman confirmed searches were conducted at two Caregivers of America LLC medical marijuana offices, but would not confirm other locations searched on Tuesday under sealed warrants.

"It's a brand new investigation," Eiseman said. "It's ongoing at this point so we really can't confirm anything."

Eiseman declined to say whether the searches were being conducted as part of a state or multistate investigation.

Detroit-area businessman Romel Casab is listed as registered agent for the medical marijuana office in Novi that was raided on Tuesday, according to state business records.

Casab could not be reached for comment.

Bioresource Inc., which listed Casab as president, claimed ownership of the long-shuttered Packard auto plant that has figured prominently as a backdrop in television shows and recent movies in a lawsuit last year.

The company sued a local nonprofit studio in Wayne County Circuit Court for allegedly removing a mural painted on the plant property by the artist Banksy.

(Writing by David Bailey. Editing by Peter Bohan)