8 Years Later, Man Convicted Of Killing US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry

A federal jury convicted Heraclio Osorio-Arellanes Tuesday of killing Border Patrol agent Brian Terry eight years after his death.

Osorio-Arellanes was found guilty and convicted of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, attempted robbery, assaulting four Border Patrol agents, carrying a firearm, and conspiring to disrupt interstate commerce, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Terry, 40, was killed on Dec. 14, 2010.

Terry died in a firefight after Osorio-Arellanes and a group of armed men attempted to rob smugglers who were transporting drugs from Mexico to the U.S. He was part of an elite Border Patrol unit and was participating in operation “Fast and Furious,” which permitted federal agents to allow known criminals to buy weapons in order to track the purchases to other criminal organizations, according to TheAP.

Terry and his unit sought to arrest the group of men, including Osorio-Arellanes, in Nogales, Arizona when the firefight that took Terry’s life erupted.

Osorio-Arellanes fled the scene following the attack.

He is the sixth of seven men convicted in Terry’s murder, according to the press release.

Special Attorneys Todd W. Robinson and David Leshner are prosecuting the case.

“Brian Terry’s family will never have its hero back, but his loved ones now have justice,” U.S. Attorney Robert Brewer of the Southern District of California said, according to the press release. “The jury’s verdict is the right outcome not only for the family, but for the men and women of the U.S. Border Patrol who daily put their lives at risk to protect this country.”

Authorities first took Osorio-Arellanes into custody in April 2017.

The Brian A. Terry Memorial Act, which renamed the U.S. Border Patrol station in Bisbee in honor of Terry, unanimously passed the Senate in May, 2012. Former President Barack Obama signed the measure into law shortly thereafter.

Osorio-Arellanes will be sentenced April 29.