PHOENIX (AP) — A federal appeals court is set to hear arguments in the civil case against a U.S. Border Patrol agent who killed a Mexican teen in a cross-border shooting in Arizona.
Friday’s hearing will focus on whether people on foreign soil harmed by U.S. authorities have the right to sue in the United States.
The attorney for Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz argues that 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez was not protected by the U.S. Constitution because he was in Mexico when shot in October 2012.
Swartz opened fire from the U.S. side of the border.
He also faces a second-degree murder charge.
The U.S. Supreme Court next year will consider a similar case involving a Mexican teen shot by a Border Patrol agent at the Texas and Mexico border.
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