2nd Day of Trial of BP Agent for Murder of Young Immigrant : AZ IMC

Shortly after opening remarks made by both the prosecution and the defense in the ongoing trial of Nicholas Corbett, it quickly became clear that the two sides stand diametrically opposed in their accounts of what happened on that fatal day in January of 2007.

Defense attorney, Sean Chapman, set the tone as an act of self-defense in his remarks, in that Agent Corbett was merely protecting himself from having his “head crushed” by a rock allegedly being wielded as weapon by Francisco Javier, the young man shot and killed by Agent Corbett. Chapman rounded out his opening statements by briefly mentioning there would be representatives from DHS explaining and justifying the necessary “use of force” when rocks are potentially being used as weapons, along with his insistence that the Mexican government has been influencing the family, who are also witnesses in this case, since the first moment they came in contact with them. In his conclusion, Chapman stated that if Agent Corbett did not act in the manner that he did, “he might be dead today.”
Prosecutor Grant Woods opened his remarks with a reminder to the jury and to those present in the courtroom that everyone, “is endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights,” and Francisco Javier—a son, a brother, a friend, was no different. Upon seeing an almost larger than life smiling photo of their now deceased son, Francisco’s mother broke down in grief that only a mother who has buried a child must know. Mr. Woods very pointedly stated to the jury that Francisco Javier was shot and killed while in an act of surrender—that Agent Corbett shot him while he was falling to his knees in an act of total submission. Mr. Woods then left the jury with his concluding remark that not only do they have several eye-witness testimonies on their side, they also have science speaking to the fact that Francisco Javier was shot from a distance less than one foot away.

As the proceedings continued throughout the day, testimony was heard from the second Border Patrol officer on the scene, Agent Burg, who described how he put Francisco Javier’s two brothers and his brother’s girlfriend all in the same Border Patrol vehicle at the scene of the incident. The second person on the stand to testify, called by the prosecution, was John Maciulla, an AZ Department of Public Safety Crime Lab Criminalist. He offered forensic and ballistic evidence that with scientific precision, determined Francisco Javier was shot from a distance ranging from 3 inches to no further than 1 foot. Additionally, Maciulla made the discovery that the actual bullet hole in Francisco’s sweater he was wearing when he was shot was located near the zipper of the sweater that ran square down the center of it—providing evidence that his sweater had been pulled by force to his armpit—the site of the entry wound on Francisco’s body. Throughout his testimony, photos of the scene were made public, in where Mr. Woods quickly instructed the parents to avert their eyes from the monitors provided to the audience. Francisco’s father, like a statue, remained looking at the photos.

After the noon recess, Jorge Dominguez Rivera, the eldest Rivera brother, took the stand to give his eye-witness account of what happened to his younger brother Francisco. He started from the beginning of their misfortunate journey—from the day he and his other brother, Rene, and his girlfriend, Sandra, decided to go with their brother to New York City, to their confusing encounters with their “coyote”, flying from Mexico City to Juarez joined by four others they did not know, from Juarez to eventually Agua Prieta where they were dropped off by a taxi in the desert—hours from the border by foot. Here they were then joined by an even larger group and the group’s coyote, and began walking towards the border. They did not travel far into the U.S. before encountering treacherous terrain, canals, and eventually were intercepted by the U.S. Border Patrol. The four of them began walking quickly back to the border—Sandra had become exhausted from their long journey, no longer able to run. The four of them decided that they would walk to the border so that they could be detained. Off in the distance, they could see 3 members of their initial group being detained by Agent Corbett. They continued to walk back to the border, meanwhile, Corbett began speeding towards them in his vehicle taking no care to dodge large agave plants, but instead taking them with him. Corbett continued pointing his vehicle at the four of them, coming inches from Jorge as he began to make wide circling “donut-like” maneuvers in his vehicle around the four. Rene threw himself to the ground to lay face-down, while Sandra sank to her knees. Francisco and Jorge stood next to each other—Jorge put his hands up in an act of surrender and ran over to where Rene and Sandra were, getting on his knees as well. Francisco stayed behind, paralyzed in fear as Agent Corbett continued to drive circles around them, turning the wheel with his left hand as he pointed his gun at them in the other. Agent Corbett stopped the vehicle, got out, and ran to the back where all of them were located while at the very same time, Francisco started to move quickly from the other side of the vehicle to where his brothers and Sandra were kneeling. Just as Francisco reached his family and started to kneel and put his own hands up behind his head, Agent Corbett hit him on the back of the head, grabbed him with his arm around his neck, and shot him in his armpit. Jorge was asked to come down from the stand and demonstrate this scene, and then described how after Francisco was shot, he suddenly went still, arms straight out to the side, falling back on his back and began to convulse. Mr. Woods asked Jorge whether Francisco had a rock, Jorge responded, “no…no..No!” Mr. Woods then asked Jorge how tall his brother was, for which Jorge described him as being as tall as himself—about 5’3’’ and around 170 pounds. Mr. Woods then asked if the defendant was the person who shot his brother, in which Agent Corbett stood—showing the jury his 6’ 4’’ and easily 250 pound frame. Jorge affirmed that Agent Corbett was the person who killed his brother. Mr. Woods concluded his questioning as to whether he and his brother and girlfriend conspired with the Mexican consulate to sue the U.S. government. Jorge simply responded by saying that, “all we were thinking about was how we were going to get our brother’s body back to Mexico, and how we were going to tell our father his son was dead.”

Judge Bury recessed the court for the day and said they would open tomorrow with the defense’s cross-examination of Jorge’s testimony. The jury was dismissed, and the judge then asked if there were any legal matters in need of being discussed. Mr. Woods explained that they just that day received a new eye-witness testimony that would show that Agent Corbett has a propensity towards violence, as the witness and her children were threatened to be killed by Agent Corbett. Due to being late in the day, Judge Bury decided to take this matter up in the morning as to whether or not this new testimony would have grounds to be heard. The trail reconvenes Thursday morning, promptly at 9:30am.