× ELECTION Coverage of Arizona's election with all-day analysis and live results beginning at 8pm.Election CoverageElection Results
  1. Home
 / Modified aug 8, 2018 3:01 p.m.

Border Agent's Attorney Considering Appeal in Shooting Case

The attorney for Lonnie Swartz said he's considering an appeal following a ruling opening Swartz up to a lawsuit from the family of the teenager he killed.
by Associated Press

PHOENIX — The attorney for a Border Patrol agent who killed a Mexican teen says he's considering filing an appeal after a federal appeals court ruled the agent can be sued in civil court.

Attorney Sean Chapman said he is considering filing an appeal for a hearing before a larger panel of 9th U.S. Circuit Court judges, or with the U.S. Supreme Court.

A three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that the family of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez can sue agent Lonnie Swartz because the teen was constitutionally protected. A similar case out of Texas has made its way through a different appeals court, which found the Mexican teen in that case wasn't constitutionally protected.

Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder this year but faces a retrial and also a civil suit filed on behalf of the boy's mother.

MORE: Border, Immigration, Justice System, Law Enforcement, News
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona