Murder trial begins in AZ for illegal immigrant shooting

Reported by: Associated Press
Last Update: 2/23 1:42 pm

A murder trial tinged with international controversy that begins this week will determine whether a U.S. Border Patrol agent was justified in shooting an illegal immigrant near the Mexican border.

Jury selection will start Tuesday in federal court in the case of Agent Nicholas Corbett, who is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide in the Jan. 12, 2007, death of Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera.

Corbett's lawyers contend that he acted lawfully in self-defense after being threatened; prosecutors contend the shooting wasn't justified.

The case stands in contrast to that of El Paso, Texas, agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who are serving prison terms after a jury convicted them in 2006 of assault, obstruction of justice and civil rights violations in the wounding of a drug smuggler.

Border Patrol brass in El Paso supported that prosecution, after an internal investigation determined the agents had acted inappropriately.

Robert Gilbert, who became chief of the El Paso sector a few months before the agents' federal trial, said after the case that Ramos' and Compean's actions would not overshadow the agency's "long-standing tradition of honor, service and integrity to the country."

Now the Border Patrol's Tucson sector chief, Gilbert has attended Corbett's court proceedings in a show of support for the agent.

Again, with the persecution and prosecution of a Border Patrol agent who was defending our borders. Enough already! -mm