Thursday, August 11, 2011

BREAKING NEWS: US Attorney: Terry parents do not qualify under Crime Victims Rights Act

US attorney opposes victim status for Terry parents in gun case

David Codrea, Gun Rights Examiner


PHOENIX: 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.

Addendum: A post from Sipsey Street Irregulars on this development will be forthcoming. As background, note Mike Vanderboegh made the following observation in April:

Sources and documents indicate the prosecutor who advised the "Fast and Furious" case in Phoenix was Asst. U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley. His boss, Arizona's US Attorney Dennis Burke, was a longtime chief of staff for Homeland Security Chief Janet Napolitano...

Both Burke and Hurley signed this filing.

UPDATE: Vanderboegh posts "The Banality of Evil."

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