Mexico Backs Family Trying to Sue US Border Agent Who Killed Teen CBS News
go to original January 22, 2015

An unidentified relative shows a photo of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Huereka, 15, to the press outside his mother's home in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Associated Press)

A U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot and killed a Mexican 15-year-old across the border should be accountable in U.S. district court because all of his actions were in the country, an attorney for the boy's parents told judges.

"There is no legal black hole on the border," Steve Shadowen said as the hearing opened Wednesday before all 16 judges of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Agent Jesus Mesa Jr. asked the full court to hear the case after a 5th Circuit panel ruled 2-1 that Jesus Hernandez and Maria Guadalupe Guerera Betancour could sue him over the death of their son, Sergio Hernandez.

The judges did not indicate when they would rule.

Allowing the suit would be "in essence, invading the power of a foreign country," said Mesa's attorney, Randolph Ortega.

Mexico doesn't see it that way: A "friend of the court" brief for Mexico's government asked the court to let the lawsuit proceed. An attorney from the Mexican embassy attended the hearing but referred comments to the embassy press office, which did not immediately respond.

Read the rest at CBS News

Use of force questioned in deadly incidents with Border Patrol (CBS News)

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