Family of slain border patrol agent reacts to conviction overturned
Case from 2010 exposed botched federal sting operation known as “Fast and Furious”
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A federal appeals court on Friday overturned the murder conviction of a man serving life in prison for shooting and killing Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in southern Arizona in 2010.
His family said they were blindsided by the stunning reversal in the high-profile case that exposed a federal gun operation gone wrong.
“There is still a lot of pain in the family, a lot of frustration and resentment. The government really hasn’t treated us well,” said Ralph Terry, Brian’s uncle.
Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced four years ago.
On an appeal, he argued his constitutional rights were violated while he was interrogated in a Mexican prison. The appeals court ruled in his favor, saying he did not get a fair trial.
“We learned about this latest episode, the overturning of the conviction, not by the Department of Justice. We learned about it online with the rest of the public,” said Ralph Terry.
The infamous case revealed the botched “Fast and Furious” sting operation during the Obama Administration.
Federal agents allowed criminals to buy guns, hoping to track them to organized crime groups in Mexico.
However, they lost track of the weapons and two guns were found at the scene where Brian Terry was killed.
“The criminals were better armed than Brian was that night and he paid the ultimate price for that,” said Ralph Terry.
The case was sent back to the U.S. District Court of Arizona and prosecutors can retry it.
“After looking at the evidence, the prosecutor will decide without this confession, can they still move forward?” said Ben Taylor, a Valley criminal defense attorney.
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