Court rules Mexican mother can sue over cross-border Border Patrol shooting

By REBECCA MORIN 08/07/2018 01:41 PM EDT

A woman whose son was killed on Mexican soil by a U.S. Border Patrol agent in Arizona can sue for damages, a federal court ruled Tuesday.

The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz is not entitled to qualified immunity, saying that the Fourth Amendment — which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures — applies in this case.

"Based on the facts alleged in the complaint, Swartz violated the Fourth Amendment. It is inconceivable that any reasonable officer could have thought that he or she could kill J.A. for no reason," Judge Andrew J. Kleinfeld wrote in the majority opinion. "Thus, Swartz lacks qualified immunity."

Swartz, who was found not guilty in April of second-degree murder for the 2012 shooting, has said he shot at people throwing rocks through the border fence in Nogales, Arizona. A retrial in the case will take place in October.

Jose Antonio Elena Rodríguez, 16, was hit mostly in the back by about 10 bullets, according to the court ruling. Swartz fired between 14 to 30 bullets at Rodríguez.

In the lawsuit filed by Araceli Rodriguez, mother of Jose Antonio Elena Rodríguez, she says her son was "peacefully walking down the Calle Internacional, a street in Nogales, Mexico," according to the opinion. She said the 16-year-old was not throwing rocks and was not engaging in any illegal behavior.

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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/08/07/lonnie-swartz-border-patrol-shooting-case-765898