Legal battle over Operation Fast and Furious documents ends after 7 years
In a standoff over Obama-era privilege, House Republicans held Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt in 2012; William La Jeunesse reports from Los Angeles.
A man accused of pulling the trigger in the 2010 shooting death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, whose death exposed the botched President Obama-era gun operation known as "Fast and Furious," has been overturned, a U.S. appeals court said.
The bombshell reversal comes after Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes was convicted of first-degree murder, among other charges, after being extradited from Mexico. He was among seven defendants tried and convicted in the Dec. 14, 2010, killing of Terry.
On Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals released its decision to overturn the conviction after Osorio-Arellanes argued his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination and his Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel were violated during his trial and subsequent conviction.
"Because Osorio established his Sixth Amendment claim, the panel did not need to reach his Fifth Amendment claim," the ruling stated. "The panel rejected the Government’s argument that the absence of a Fifth Amendment violation would bar Osorio’s Sixth Amendment claim."
MAN CONVICTED IN BORDER AGENT BRIAN TERRY'S MURDER BROUGHT ATTENTION TO ‘FAST & FURIOUS’
Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes, right, was among seven people charged in the Dec. 14, 2010, slaying of 40-year-old Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, left, north of Nogales, Ariz. (U.S. Border Patrol)
The doomed "Fast and Furious" operation involved federal agents allowing criminals to buy guns with the intention of tracking them to criminal organizations.
But the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives lost track of most of the guns, including two found at the site of Terry’s death.
FAST AND FURIOUS HEARING RIPS HOLDER, DOJ FOR DECEPTION IN GUN-RUNNING SCANDAL
The failed Obama-era plan was exposed after Terry's death and prompted his family to sue the government.
Terry’s killing publicly revealed the "Fast and Furious" operation, by which U.S. federal agents allowed criminals to buy guns with the intention of tracking them to criminal organizations. (U.S. Border Patrol)
Terry was part of a four-man team in an elite Border Patrol unit staking out the southern Arizona desert on a mission to find "rip-off" crew members who rob drug smugglers.
They encountered a group and identified themselves as police when trying to arrest them.
The men refused to stop, prompting an agent to fire bean bags at them.
The crew members responded by firing AK-47-type assault rifles. Terry was struck in the back and died shortly afterward.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for comment.
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