Sentence overturned in border agent’s killing that exposed ‘Fast and Furious’ sting

PHOENIX (AP) — An appeals court on Friday overturned the conviction and life sentence of a man found guilty of killing a U.S. Border Patrol agent whose death exposed the botched federal gun operation known as “Fast and Furious” has been overturned, a U.S. appeals court said Friday.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the convictions of Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, saying his constitutional due process rights had been violated, and sent the case back to the U.S. District Court in Arizona for further proceedings.

Osorio-Arellanes was sentenced in 2020 in the Dec. 14, 2010 fatal shooting of Agent Brian Terry while he was on a mission in Arizona.

Osorio-Arellanes was convicted of first-degree murder and other charges after being extradited from Mexico. He was among seven defendants who were tried and convicted in Terry’s killing.

The appeals court said Osorio-Arellanes had confessed to “essential elements” of the U.S. government’s case against him while being interrogated in a Mexico City prison.

On appeal, he argued that he was entitled to a new trial because his confession was taken in violation of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, as well as his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel. He also argued that he did not have a fair trial, and his attorney said he is illiterate and didn’t understand the proceedings.

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