Feds Fight "Victim" status for Brian Terry

[Snap E Tom]

This is pretty insulting.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/201 ... erry_n.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[The Annoyed Man]

I saw that the other day. Interestingly the U.S. Attorney who is trying to fight the "victim" status is the same guy who previously went on TV and worried about "assault" type rifles winding up in the hands of narco terrorists. It also turns out that he was involved in green-lighting some of the "fast and furious" transactions in the region.

I think that he's just covering his own butt. If Brian Terry's family gets victim status, then they have the right to confront the accused prior to sentencing, and that would be a huge bully pulpit they could use to denounce "fast and furious" and the scabrous US Attorneys and BATF directors who pushed it. In other words, having victim status becomes a political issue for the Terry family and the attorneys who oppose them.

As the article points out:

"The victim of the offenses is not any particular person, but society in general," prosecutors said in court documents.

The Terry family was not immediately available for comment. But the family's legal team said it would respond to the government's action in court papers next week.

"I think it's pretty bold of the government to take a position on this," said George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents 17,000 Border Patrol agents. "It's the government trying to cover its backside and minimize the embarrassment over a failed gun investigation. There is no other reason for this."

And that last comment is coming from an organization of Border Patrol officers. I have seen speculation in other articles that the judge in this trial is going to roll his eyes at the US Attorney's office and grant victim status to the family anyway. There simply is no other acceptable outcome, and the judge knows it.

[atticus]

I've said it before. Holder has taken the Justice Department to the depths of the gutter. They are now unable to recognize guilt or shame. There needs to be a wholesale house cleaning at Justice, because the rot now reaches well beyond Washington. That's such a shame.