Fast and Furious: Case Files on Terry Murder Have Disappeared, Gone

November 16, 2011

By Katie Pavlich

 

 

 

The Arizona Daily Star's Tim Stellar is reporting the federal case file against illegal Mexican bandits accused of killing Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, has disappeared. 

The case against the alleged killers of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry has disappeared from federal court records, apparently sealed by a federal judge.

In May, federal prosecutors won an indictment against Manuel Osorio-Arellanes and others, and they announced it with a press release. Only Osorio-Arellanes’ name was visible in the indictment, but there were blacked-out words where other defendants’ names go.

Osorio-Arellanes was charged with second-degree murder and was not considered the likely shooter. He had been wounded during the gunfight that left Terry dead.

But in the ensuing months, the case disappeared from court records.

Why? Nobody is saying.

Asked about the case, Debra Hartman, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego, which is prosecuting the case, said via email: “Yes, our office is handling the case and can’t comment further.”

Brandon Judd, president of the National Border Patrol Council’s local 2544, said agents have grown frustrated with the lack of transparency in the case.

First, he said, there was the long silence surrounding the origins of the assault rifles discovered at the scene, eventually revealed to have been set loose into the community as part of a federal firearms investigation. Now there’s this: a criminal investigation that has disappeared from public view.

I for one, am pretty shocked the corruption within the Fast and Furious case is this bad. I was told by a friend of the Terry family last week that after Brian Terry's death, his mother, Josephine Terry, along with other family members, were prohibited for weeks from entering Brian's home. Things here just aren't adding up. Considering the case was sealed by a federal judge, the file must have been stolen by someone on the inside.

Remember, U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke resigned on August 31, 2011. Burke's office was handling the case before it was moved to the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego on September 6, 2011, just days after Burke's resignation. Now, the case files for the prosecution, dripping with details about Brian Terry's murder, a result of the Obama Justice Department's Fast and Furious, has disappeared.

Katie Pavlich the News Editor at Townhall.com. Follow her on Twitter @katiepavlich.