Border Patrol Agent to be Charged with Murder

An excerpt from from the statement issued by Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer:

With respect to the January 12, 2007 shooting of Francisco Dominguez-Rivera, by agent Nicholas Corbett, however, based on the extensive investigation presented to this office by the Cochise County Sheriff's Department, as well as the physical evidence itself, we must come to the unfortunate but inescapable conclusion that this shooting was not legally justified. We have concluded that the evidence shows that at the time he was shot, Mr. Dominguez-Rivera presented no threat to agent Corbett and agent Corbett did not act in reasonable apprehension of imminent death or serious physical injury.

Our conclusion is that the physical evidence does not support the explanation of the shooting offered by agent Corbett. To the contrary, the physical evidence does corroborate the description of the circumstances of the shooting given by the three witnesses who were traveling with Mr. Dominguez-Rivera at the time of his death.

more info from the AZ Daily Star

I'm sure this will make all of the Tancredo-bots heads explode in unison - screeching and howling about political witch hunts - but this is not a decision that is being made blindly. There is forensic evidence, along with an incriminating video, that does not jive with the story the Border Patrol agent told his superiors.

With this next step, our justice system kicks in, rather than bureaucratic cover-ups of wrongdoing. That should be something we all applaud.

[Ed. Note] This is a follow-up to a follow-up of a previous post.