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Mexican Man Sentenced In Murder Of Agent Brian Terry
Photo courtesy U.S. Border Patrol.
Slain Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
A Mexican man has been sentenced to three decades in prison for the 2010 murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. That shootout revealed the failed federal Operation Fast and Furious.
Manuel Osorio-Arellanes was in a group of five bandits that got into a gunfight with Border Patrol agents in Southern Arizona that resulted in Terry’s death. Osorio-Arellanes was the only one in the group arrested, after he himself was wounded.
It was later revealed weapons found at the scene were part of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation known as Fast and Furious. It allowed suspected gun smugglers to buy weapons illegally in the United States so federal agents could try to track them across the border into Mexico.
But agents lost track of hundreds of weapons. Revelations about the botched program caused several high-profile government officials to resign.
So far, Osorio-Arellanes is the only person to face charges in the U.S. for Terry’s death. He had pleaded guilty to first degree murder, and prosecutors asked for a 30 year sentence. That’s what a federal judge handed down Monday afternoon, with credit for time served.