Attorneys seek Border Patrol agent trial delay


By Jonathon Shacat
WICK NEWS SERVICE

Mar 28, 2008

BISBEE — Attorneys prosecuting and defending Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett’s murder case are asking a federal judge in Tucson to postpone a trial scheduled to start next month.

Corbett is charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide for fatally shooting an illegal immigrant from Mexico named Francisco Dominguez-Rivera last year near Naco.

At the conclusion of a two-week trial on March 7, Judge David Bury declared a mistrial in the case because the jury was deadlocked. He scheduled a new trial date for April 22.

Lead defense attorney Sean Chapman filed a motion dated Tuesday asking the judge to change the trial date to Sept. 9.

Chapman is requesting the trial be postponed due to trial conflicts in other cases.

“Counsel currently has multiple trial settings on cases that were previously delayed in order to try the Corbett case in February. Those cases, set in April and May 2008, need to be tried on their current trial dates,â€