The Morning Blend
Welcome
Complete Media Kit
HEREFORD — Nicholas W. Corbett, the U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of murdering an illegal immigrant, will face a federal judge at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 24. in the U.S. Courthouse in Tucson.
U.S. District Judge David C. Bury signed the order Thursday for a status hearing and pretrial conference. The order was filed Friday in his court in Tucson. Bury will preside over the hearing and conference.
The Corbett case docket also shows that his case has been “referred by random assignment to (U.S.) Magistrate Bernardo P. Velasco,” according to a minute order filed Thursday.
Corbett, 39, pleaded not guilty Aug. 20 to second-degree murder, manslaughter and negligent homicide in Cochise County, stemming from an incident Jan. 12 about eight miles east of Naco. There have been conflicting accounts about how and why Corbett killed 22-year-old Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera from Puebla, Mexico. An investigation that included work by the FBI ultimately led to the Cochise County Attorney’s Office filing criminal charges in April.
|
|
On Aug. 23, Corbett’s attorney, Sean C. Chapman, filed a notice in U.S. District Court of Arizona to remove the case from state to federal jurisdiction, arguing on the basis of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution that a state court has no jurisdiction over a federal officer who is performing his duties.
Cochise County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer on Thursday said he would not oppose Chapman’s request for transfer.
HERALD/REVIEW city editor Ted Morris can be reached at 515-4614 or by e-mail at cityeditor@svherald.com.
