Clipper Nation
10-01-2015, 04:43 PM
Two members of a "rip crew" that engaged in a fatal firefight with U.S. Border Patrol Agents near the Mexican border in December 2010 were found guilty of murder today by a U.S. District Court jury in Tucson.
Agent Brian Terry was killed in the fight, and guns found at the scene were traced to the scandalously flawed federal gun-running sting operation called "Fast and Furious."
Jurors convicted Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza, who were extradited from Mexico to stand trial for Terry's death, on all counts: first-degree murder -- though neither is believed to have fired the fatal bullet -- second-degree murder, conspiracy, attempted robbery, carrying a firearm in a violent crime, and four counts of assaulting a federal officer.
The case stems from the shootout December 2010. Terry and three other agents were staked out above an arroyo southwest of Rio Rico, 11 miles north of the Mexican border.
Soto-Barraza and Sanchez-Meza were part of a five-man rip crew looking for drug smugglers to rob. Both admitted they had entered the country illegally from Mexico and were carrying semi-automatic rifles as they patrolled the area. The Border Patrol agents shouted "Policia," and began firing non-lethal bean-bag rounds, drawing fire from unknown members of the rip crew.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2015/10/01/guilty-verdict-border-patrol-agent-brian-terry-killing-trial/73144850/
Agent Brian Terry was killed in the fight, and guns found at the scene were traced to the scandalously flawed federal gun-running sting operation called "Fast and Furious."
Jurors convicted Ivan Soto-Barraza and Jesus Leonel Sanchez-Meza, who were extradited from Mexico to stand trial for Terry's death, on all counts: first-degree murder -- though neither is believed to have fired the fatal bullet -- second-degree murder, conspiracy, attempted robbery, carrying a firearm in a violent crime, and four counts of assaulting a federal officer.
The case stems from the shootout December 2010. Terry and three other agents were staked out above an arroyo southwest of Rio Rico, 11 miles north of the Mexican border.
Soto-Barraza and Sanchez-Meza were part of a five-man rip crew looking for drug smugglers to rob. Both admitted they had entered the country illegally from Mexico and were carrying semi-automatic rifles as they patrolled the area. The Border Patrol agents shouted "Policia," and began firing non-lethal bean-bag rounds, drawing fire from unknown members of the rip crew.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2015/10/01/guilty-verdict-border-patrol-agent-brian-terry-killing-trial/73144850/