Thread: Border agent cleared in shooting of suspected smuggler

Feb. 16, 2008, 12:01AM
Border agent cleared in shooting of suspected smuggler
Man suspected of smuggling was killed after tossing rocks at official
By RICHARD MAROSI
Los Angeles Times

Under the Border Patrol's use-of-force guidelines, agents are permitted to employ lethal force against people throwing rocks if they pose a threat. Large rocks have seriously injured many agents. Some wear helmets and riot gear. SAN DIEGO — The U.S. Department of Justice has cleared a Border Patrol agent of any wrongdoing in the fatal shooting of a suspected smuggler whose death two years ago focused attention on increasing violence at the California-Mexico border.

Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, the 18-year-old who died, allegedly was throwing rocks at the agent, who shot him in the upper back on a stretch of the San Diego-Tijuana border in December 2005.

Prosecutors in the Justice Department's civil-rights division, who investigated whether the shooting constituted an excessive use of force, said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.

The case was closed Feb. 1.

Migrant-rights groups and the lawyer for Martinez's family said the investigation did little to dispel their impression that the agent's actions were unjustified.

The shooting occurred in an area of frequent clashes between agents and rock-throwing youths, and critics contended that some of the Border Patrol's actions there had gone too far.

"The guy shouldn't have been throwing rocks ... but in this case it seemed the rock throwing was done" before the shooting, said Enrique Morones, president of the Border Angels, a San Diego-based migrant-rights group. "There was no need to shoot and kill him."

Agents rejected accusations that the investigation whitewashed the incident, saying that the federal government has not shown reluctance to charge federal officers on other occasions.

In the most notable example, federal prosecutors in 2006 gained convictions against two Border Patrol agents in Texas for assaulting a smuggler.

Federal prosecutors did not disclose details of their investigation. But agents said the fact that Martinez was shot in the back didn't necessarily mean he was running away. He could have just finished throwing the rock or he could have been reaching for another, they said.

"If you want to go home to your family and friends, you're going to do what you can to protect yourself," said Chris Bauder, president of the San Diego chapter of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents Border Patrol agents.

The shooting occurred across from Tijuana's Colonia Libertad neighborhood, where young men regularly pelt agents with rocks to divert their attention from smuggling operations.

The agent, an eight-year veteran at the time, encountered Martinez holding a ladder near the secondary border fence inside the California border. Martinez appeared to throw a rock, prompting the agent to fire a single shot, according to the Border Patrol.

Martinez, the father of two, was initially portrayed in the Mexican media as a hardworking immigrant crossing the border in search of work. But U.S. agents disclosed that he had been arrested a dozen times for illegally entering the country.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 46679.html

Added to home PAge
http://www.alipac.us/article2963.html

Martinez, the father of two, was initially portrayed in the Mexican media as a hardworking immigrant crossing the border in search of work. But U.S. agents disclosed that he had been arrested a dozen times for illegally entering the country.

That should show you the lengths that Mexico and the IA advocates will go to in outright lieing in an attempt to support completely undefensible positions.

Remember the invader advocate mindset...if you say a lie repeatidly and often, some people will eventually believe it as truth. BTW...that also applies to some politicians.

Agent won't be prosecuted in shooting

By Leslie Berestein
STAFF WRITER

February 16, 2008

The federal government has decided not to prosecute a Border Patrol agent who shot a 20-year-old Mexican man in the back near the San Ysidro port of entry on Dec. 30, 2005.

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice sent a letter this month to the family of Guillermo Martinez Rodriguez, through their San Diego attorney, explaining the decision.

“We are writing to notify you that we have carefully reviewed and analyzed all of the evidence and have concluded that the government cannot prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the agent who shot your family member committed a willful violation of the applicable federal criminal civil rights statutes,â€

Remember the invader advocate mindset...if you say a lie repeatidly and often, some people will eventually believe it as truth. BTW...that also applies to some politicians.

This is so true. The irony here is the surviving relatives of this dirt bag will find some ambulance chasing lawyer and file a civil suit against the federal government for wrongful death or some other ridiciolus claim and our government will probably settle out of court with the family for an undisclosed amount.

well thats one less illegal stealing american jobs or killing innocent americans