Border patrolFeds to unseal portions of slain border agent’s case

Federal prosecutors have agreed to unseal portions of its case against the people who stand accused of slaying Brian Terry, a U.S. Border Patrol agent killed in the line of duty while deployed near the Arizona-Mexico border.

The move comes following a legal request by six news organizations including the Associated Press, the Arizona Daily Star, and the Arizona Republic.

Brian Terry’s death has generated significant attention after it was revealed that the gun used to kill him was actually one of the weapons lost by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives under Operation Fast and Furious.

In their 19 December court filing, attorney David Bodney on behalf of the new organizations wrote, “As a matter of well-settled constitutional law, the public and media have a right to attend criminal trials and to inspect related judicial records.”

Federal prosecutors explained that the case had been sealed because they do not want to risk revealing the identity of charged defendants who have not yet been arrested.

So far only one name has been revealed, Manuel Osorio-Arellanas, who said he was part of a five-man “rip crew.” Osorio-Arellanas was indicted on one degree of second-degree murder along with five other crimes last April.