By Steve Neavling
Ticklethewire.com
It has been eight years since the murder Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Finally, the Mexican gang member accused of killing Terry, which lead to the discovery of the Fast and Furious Scandal, appeared in federal court for the first time Wednesday after he was extradited from Mexico on Monday, the Washington Examiner reports.
Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and eight other charges at a court in Tucson., Ariz.
Osorio-Arellanes was lodged in jail pending a Sept. 11 trial.
The Mexican national was captured by Mexican authorities in April 2017 and held for18 months until he was extradited to the United States.
“The Department of Justice is pleased that the suspected killer of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry has been successfully extradited to the United States and will now face justice for this terrible crime,” Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan applauded the extradition.
“We never cease in our efforts to bring those involved in Agent Terry’s murder to the U.S. to face charges for their heinous actions,” McAleenan said in a statement. “I am grateful to our partners in the law enforcement community, both here and in Mexico, who joined us in bringing this criminal to face charges in a U.S. court.”
The Examiner wrote:
Terry was fatally shot on Dec. 14, 2010, during an encounter with a “rip crew” — a gang that steals from drug and human traffickers — near Nogales, Ariz. Terry and several members of the Border Patrol had approached the group to make arrests, but they fled.
One agent fired nonlethal bean bags at the gang. The crew fired at the agents with their AK-47-type assault rifles, killing Terry.
The death of a Border Patrol agent in the line of duty is rare. Since 1924, a total of 124 agents have died while on the job. The events surrounding Terry’s death led to the public learning the guns the gang members had acquired and used in the shooting had originally been purchased from the U.S. government.
Fast and Furious, the name of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives operation, was rolled out in hopes the Obama administration could track who purchased guns and how they were distributed.
