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."
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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.
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The failed Obama-era plan was exposed after Terry's death and prompted his family to sue the government.
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.
