by ABC News had footage from today’s press conference with US Attorney for the Southern District of California Laura Duffy. She is the lead prosecutor in the murder prosecution of the six Mexican nationals charged with Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Given the involvement of the US Attorney’s Office for Arizona in Project Gunwalker, outside prosecutors had to be brought in.
While it has been rumored for a long time that the Border Patrol Agents responded with less than lethal ammunition (beanbags), I believe this is the first time the government has confirmed it. To me, this is the equivalent of taking a knife to a gun fight.
David Codrea has a different take on the unsealing of the indictment in his National Gun Rights Examiner column today.
Noting indictments were handed down by a federal grand jury in November, 2011, and the men are still at large, it would seem fair to ask what information Justice has to to be confident they have not automatically condemned the suspects—and that word is key—to violent deaths, whether they are entrenched in Mexico or hiding in the U.S. from ruthless gangs who ignore borders as a matter of course?
If the unsealing somehow forces the suspects in from the cold, the gamble with their lives will have paid off, but that assumes they are still alive and they are guilty. If they are instead caught first by the cartels, the adage “Dead men tell no tales” will certainly fuel further speculation among those who don’t believe the government has been forthcoming about its role in a deadly operation that has already claimed known and untold lives, an unfortunate but logical consequence of earned mistrust.
I think David brings up some very valid questions. I would be surprised if they are ever found, alive or dead.
I still want to know why NONE of the gun walkers have been named as co-conspirators…