Dallas Judge Ernest White has declared a mistrial in the county’s first capital murder case linked to the Venezuelan street gang Tren de Aragua. After three rounds of deliberation, jurors remained deadlocked.
Carlos Zambrano Bolivar—25 years old at the time of the incident—was charged with capital murder and two counts of aggravated kidnapping in connection with the August 2024 murder of 33-year-old Nilzuly Arneaud Petit, a fellow gang member. Bolivar is one of four accused suspects.
All four suspects were reportedly in the country illegally. Each had been taken into custody after crossing the border and were released with court dates under the Biden administration, according to DHS sources.
Bolivar entered the U.S. through Brownsville in June 2023 and was processed as an expedited removal case with a claim of credible fear of returning to Venezuela. He was then reprocessed and released on a notice to appear in immigration court.
Tren de Aragua—meaning “Train of [the Venezuelan state of] Aragua”—is a Venezuela‑based transnational organized crime gang that has surged across much of Latin America and into the United States. The group engages in diverse criminal activities such as human smuggling, sex trafficking, violence, money laundering, and illicit drug trafficking.
The U.S. State Department designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and a Specially Designated Global Terrorist entity.
Background
In October 2024, the Farmers Branch Police Department released a statement detailing the August 24, 2024 murder.
The department was notified that morning of a body in the roadway. The deceased adult male—later identified as Nilzuly Petit—had a single gunshot wound to the head.
Two juveniles were discovered walking on a service road nearby, who had reportedly been kidnapped alongside Petit by several suspects from an apartment complex in Dallas. After the suspects shot Petit, they released the juveniles unharmed and fled the scene.
Investigators identified the suspects as Ehiker Morales Mendoza, Jhonny Martinez Serrano, Jhonata Toro Gonzalez, and Bolivar. They learned that Petit was an associate in their gang and had been accused of withholding stolen money in a complex ATM “jackpotting” operation. When he was unwilling or unable to provide the payment, he was kidnapped alongside the juveniles.
ATM jackpotting is a sophisticated cyber-physical crime where thieves force ATM machines to dispense all their stored cash, much like a slot machine hitting a jackpot.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took Bolivar and Gonzalez into custody in September 2024 in Aurora, Colorado. Mendoza was then identified as the alleged engineer of the ATM theft operation and was apprehended in October 2024 in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
As previously reported, Serrano was never apprehended. According to North Texas Crime Stoppers, he remains at large.
Prosecution
After being extradited to Dallas County, Bolivar’s case was assigned to 194th Judicial District Court Judge Ernest White (D).
Before trial, Bolivar reportedly declined a plea agreement of 50 years in prison. His case was the first to go to trial.
Prosecutors allege Bolivar helped orchestrate the kidnapping and murder, providing evidence that he stayed on the phone with a gang leader—making him fully responsible for capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.
Bolivar’s defense claims he was trafficked and acted under duress—arguing that his choices were not truly voluntary, as he feared for his own life as well as his family’s. The State bears the burden of proving Bolivar’s actions were voluntary.
Following the trial and three rounds of deliberation, jurors could not agree on whether Bolivar was a freely acting participant. State law requires criminal verdicts to be unanimous.
Judge White therefore declared a mistrial on February 16, dismissing the jury. A completely new jury will be chosen, and the trial will start over from the beginning—likely later this year.
Such a declaration is standard practice when a judge determines that future attempts at deliberation will be futile. Trial judges are given broad discretion in determining when a jury is truly deadlocked.
Judge White has previously faced criticism for being too soft on crime—particularly in violent criminal cases.
In 2022, he made headlines for allowing Christian Hilario—a capital murder defendant—to go home on house arrest on only a $1,000 bond. Hilario later cut off his ankle monitor and had to be tracked down by federal agents.
White has held his judicial seat since 2006, when he defeated a Republican incumbent. His most recent election in 2022 was by default, as he faced no opposition.
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