AZMEX F&F EXTRA 18 NOV 2013
Note: Besides Agent Terry, many hundreds of Hispanics are also dead from this operation. Still no one brought to justice.
Judge dismisses lawsuit filed by parents of slain border agent Brian Terry
Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was mortally wounded in a 2010 firefight north of the border.
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By Dennis Wagner
The Republic | azcentral.com
Mon Nov 18, 2013 2:06 PM
http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/articles/20131118judge-dismisses-lawsuit-filed-parents-slain-border-agent.html
A federal judge in Phoenix has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the parents of Brian Terry, the U.S. Border Patrol Agent who was slain with a weapon from the botched Arizona gun-running investigation known as Operation Fast and Furious.
In a ruling Friday,District Judge David Campbell decided that, even if allegations in the civil complaint are true, the lawsuit aimed at the U.S. government and seven federal employees is barred by law.
The Terry family's attorney said an appeal is likely.
Kent Terry Sr. and his wife, Josephine, filed the lawsuit after their son was slain in a December 2010 shootout with border bandits near Rio Rico. Investigators discovered that the assailants were armed with assault-style weapons that had been purchased in a Glendale gun store monitored by agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The Justice Department launched Fast and Furious in an attempt to identify and prosecute cartel leaders by tracking weapons smuggled from Arizona into Mexico. The controversial strategy, known as "gun-walking," allowed hundreds of guns into the hands of criminals, a fact that was divulged by whistle-blowers in the aftermath of Terry's death. The fallout became a national furor.
Congressional inquiries of Fast and Furious led to the resignation of Dennis Burke as U.S. Attorney for Arizona and the reassignment of William Newell as the ATF's boss in Phoenix.
President Barack Obama and the Justice Department acknowledged the investigative strategy was a mistake, but denied blame. Republicans in Congress, pressing for Justice Department records, issued a contempt citation against Attorney General Eric Holder and continue fighting for records in court.
Kent and Josephine Terry sued agents and prosecutors who ran Fast and Furious, asserting that they were at least partially responsible for their son's death. The Terry's also called for criminal charges against federal officials in the case.
Campbell ruled that, regardless of government negligence or malfeasance, federal law and Supreme Court rulings ban such a complaint because Congress provided other protections for Terry's survivors, including death benefits.
"The court recognizes that plaintiffs have suffered a great loss," Campbell wrote, "and that any financial remedy is likely insufficient to redress their injury." Nevertheless, he added, the courts may not intercede where Congress already has established compensation mechanisms for the death of an agent.
C. Lincoln Combs, the Terry family's lawyer, noted that Campbell's findings were based on a jurisdictional issue rather than arguments as to the government's culpability.
"Obviously, the family is incredibly disappointed in this ruling, and we think it's wrong," Combs added.
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