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| Home Front: Politix |
| Proj Gunwalker: US Attorney Opposes Victim Status For Terry Parents |
| 2011-08-10 |
| The US Attorney on this case is Dennis Burke, Phoenix, Arizona. He served as Chief of Staff to Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano. In Sept 2009, he was sent to Phoenix at the start-up of "Fast and Furious" and was the judge that often denied indictments requested by the AFT agents. Any lawyers around to explain this "victim status?" I've done some research and it seems they wanted to maintain Border Agent Terry's victim status since is is dead. In a controversial legal move, Dennis K. Burke, the United States Attorney for the District of Arizona entered a response yesterday in U.S. District Court to deny a motion filed on behalf of Kent Terry, Sr. and Josephine Terry, parents of murdered Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, to intervene as victims in the case of United States of America v Jaime Avila, et al. "This Court should deny the motion to intervene as victims because the intervenors are not victims in this case," Burke wrote, stating they do not qualify as victims under the Crime Victim Rights Act. Citing precedent cases, Burke argued "While Agent Terry is undeniably a murder victim, he is not a victim of Defendant Avila's firearm offenses as the CVRA defines 'victim'." The filing also maintained "The victim of the offenses is not any particular person, but society in general," and declared: The Intervenors nevertheless claim that a link exists between the firearms that Defendant Avila purchased and firearms found at the scene of Agent Terry's murder, and that he consequently had a "role" in the murder, which qualifies them as victims under the CVRA. Whether such a link exists--the nature and extent of such a link have not yet been determined--that link does not make the Intervenors victims of Defendant Avila's indicted offenses.So the parents of a crime victim aren't allowed rights under the CVRA? Doesn't that rather undermine the whole purpose of the CVRA? Of course to the progressive crowd that might be a feature, not a bug. |
| Posted by:Sherry |
| #2 Realistically, the DOJ would be nuts (OK _ nuttier) if they didn't try and stop giving the parents a bully pulpit in court to point a finger directly at the US Gov't for materially contributing to their son's killing. Ayuh, they are scum but they are pretty much forced into the tactics of mistake (TM) by the original f-up. They get a little farther and farther out of whack as they try to cover up the last cover-up. |
| Posted by: Mercutio 2011-08-10 16:34 |
| #1 If Agent Terry's parents don't have victim status they don't participate in any restitution payments ordered by the court in the Avila case. It looks like the US Attorney is willing to screw Agent Terry's parents out of that money (if there is any) to preserve the politically helpful fiction that Gunwalker did not contribute to Agent Terry's death. File this under "Extreme Chickenshit". |
| Posted by: Matt 2011-08-10 13:27 |