Text messages and a moved SUV: How the government’s case against a Chicago woman shot by a Border Patrol agent fell apart

Marimar Martinez, center, is greeted by her family after being released from the Metropolitan Correctional Center on October 6. E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

A wide grin was plastered on Marimar Martinez’s face Thursday as she thanked her attorneys outside an Illinois courtroom and told reporters, “I’m just blessed. I’m happy.”

“It’s been hard,” she said. “I can’t sleep, but now I’m gonna go sleep.”

A judge – after an unprecedented request from federal prosecutors – had just dismissed the charges against Martinez, a United States citizen who was accused of ramming a Customs and Border Protection agent in Chicago before he shot her several times.

The ruling from US District Judge Georgia Alexakis came after she had repeatedly raised concerns ab