Feds fight victim status for slain border agent's family

Federal prosecutors are opposing crime-victim status for the family of a slain U.S. Border Patrol agent in the case of an accused gun dealer who allegedly purchased two weapons recovered at the scene of last year's Arizona shootout where Agent Brian Terry was killed.

Victim status, among other things, gives family members the right to be notified of court proceedings in the case, confer with prosecutors on matters related to the case, testify at sentencing or parole hearings and receive restitution.

Neither of the weapons allegedly bought by Jaime Avila has been positively identified as the gun that killed Terry, but the firearms also have not been ruled out as murder weapons.

The weapons were among about 2,000 guns purchased by unlicensed dealers who were subjects of a controversial federal gun-trafficking investigation launched in 2009 in which hundreds of the weapons were allowed to fall into hands of violent drug traffickers in Mexico and criminals in the U.S. The investigation, known as "Operation Fast and Furious," was ended after Terry's death in 2010.

Still, federal prosecutors urged a judge not to confer victim status on the Terry family, arguing that the agent was not "directly and proximately" harmed by Avila's alleged act.

Avila is charged with conspiring to deal in firearms without a license, dealing firearms without a license and making false statements during the firearm purchases.

"The victim of the offenses is not any particular person, but society in general," prosecutors said in court documents.

The Terry family was not immediately available for comment. But the family's legal team said it would respond to the government's action in court papers next week.

"I think it's pretty bold of the government to take a position on this," said George McCubbin, president of the National Border Patrol Council, which represents 17,000 Border Patrol agents. "It's the government trying to cover its backside and minimize the embarrassment over a failed gun investigation. There is no other reason for this."