Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, one of four men involved in the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry on December 15, 2010, will be sentenced today in Tucson, Arizona after pleading guilty to first degree murder. Osorio-Arellanes sentence will be handed down in federal court. Two other men are still on the run in Mexico and $250,000 has been offered as a reward for information leading to each of their arrests. Manuel Osario Arellanes was shot on the night Terry was killed and has remained in custody since.
Family members, including Terry's mother Josephine and cousin Robert Heyer, will attend the sentencing.
Operation Fast and Furious took place between September 2009 and December 2010. The United States Department of Justice sanctioned the illegal sale of more than 2500 rifles and ATF officials knowingly allowed them to be trafficking to violent cartel members in Mexico. Weapons from the operation were found at Terry's murder scene. More than 1400 of those guns are still missing in Mexico.
The Terry family and the House Oversight Committee are waiting on a court ruling to determine whether President Obama's assertion of executive privilege over Fast and Furious documents will stand. Obama asserted executive privilege over documents after denying any knowledge of the operation and on the same day Attorney General Eric Holder was voted in contempt of Congress over his refusal to cooperate with the Fast and Furious investigation. Many questions still remain unanswered.
