Border death points to peril for both sides

What’s clear from the surveillance tape is that Nicholas Corbett wheeled his Border Patrol truck around and cut off the four immigrants who had been trudging through the desert less than 100 yards north of the border.

But the tape does not show what happened next on that January afternoon.

According to court records, Corbett told supervisors that he had killed Francisco Javier Dominguez-Rivera, 22, with a single gunshot after the immigrant raised a rock to throw at him.

But the other immigrants -- two brothers and a sister-in-law of Dominguez-Rivera -- said that their relative had been empty-handed and that Corbett had pushed him to his knees before shooting him.

The Cochise County prosecutor has charged Corbett, 39, with murder -- an unusual step, especially in a conservative county long affected by illegal immigration.

The judge could charge Corbett with a lesser count such as manslaughter at a preliminary hearing scheduled for August.

“We came to the conclusion that this is not a legally justified shooting,” said County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer, who says he has been inundated with angry e-mails since filing the charges in late April. “It’s an incident that has nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with the immigration issue.”

But in southeastern Arizona -- where homeowners find immigrants hiding in their backyards and where Border Patrol checkpoints proliferate -- illegal immigration permeates every aspect of life and colors how some judge the shooting. The one thing people agree on is that the case demonstrates how the border has become more perilous for those trying to sneak across it and for the agents assigned to catch them.

Assaults on agents are up 10% in southeastern Arizona over last year, and though the number is holding steady nationwide, the Border Patrol says attacks have become more violent. Officers say immigrants are more likely to run and throw rocks or, as happened near Yuma, Ariz., last month, Molotov cocktails.

The Border Patrol has seized nearly twice as much cocaine this year as last. The crossing is riskier for illegal immigrants too. Deaths among crossers are up 21% over last year. Bandits watch border-crossing routes, robbing immigrants and sometimes kidnapping entire groups. And Mexican border towns have been racked by drug violence that U.S. authorities fear could spread across the line.

“A lot of it has to do with desperation,” said Jennifer Allen, director of the Border Action Network in Tucson, an immigrant rights group. “Because the border is so built-up and because of its militarization, there’s been a buildup of smuggling operations that are highly professional, highly armed. Now there’s a lot more at stake.”

Corbett’s supporters agree, but add that they believe his prosecution makes it riskier for all sides. Agent Brandon Judd, who works at the same station as Corbett, said that other agents had grown wary of using their guns since the charges were filed -- and that the smuggling rings know that.

“The less likely we are to use force,” said Judd, a vice president of the local Border Patrol agents union, “the more likely they are.”

Peter Schey, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law in Los Angeles, represents the three witnesses to the shooting, and said that a more restrained Border Patrol might be a good thing.

“Violence along the border is an epidemic, and it’s not just the smugglers,” Schey said. “It’s also the Border Patrol themselves. They’re just extremely quick to use deadly force.”

Corbett has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Sean Chapman, declined to comment on the case. During a brief hearing last month, he stressed that his client “puts his life on the line on a daily basis.”

Some activists against illegal immigration say that the case is the latest in a line of prosecutions with the intent to undermine the United States’ border security. “They’re prosecuting these cases at the behest of the Mexican government,” said Andy Ramirez of the Covina-based Friends of the Border Patrol, noting that Mexican President Felipe Calderon had sent a letter to Washington condemning the shooting and urging a full investigation.

The case that has received the most attention is against former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio “Nacho” Ramos and Jose “Alonso” Compean, who were sentenced to 11 and 12 years, respectively, for shooting a fleeing drug runner and then covering it up. Several members of Congress have called for the two to be pardoned, and tens of thousands of activists have signed petitions supporting the former agents.

In contrast, the reaction to the Corbett case has been relatively subdued on both sides, especially in Cochise County. Weeks after the shooting, agents shot a dog. “A lot more people were upset about that than about Francisco,” said Cecile Lumer, an activist in Bisbee with immigrant rights group Citizens for Border Solutions.

According to court records, Dominguez-Rivera lived in New York City for four years and returned to his hometown, Puebla, Mexico, in December. He was making his first trip back to the U.S. the afternoon of Jan. 12, bringing two brothers and a sister-in-law.

In the Mexican border town Agua Prieta, the four joined a group of about 25 who crossed the border that morning. But after entering the U.S., the group was spotted in the open desert by the Border Patrol, and the immigrants scattered.

Corbett caught one group of three. They later told investigators he cursed at them but did not abuse them. He placed them in a holding cell in the rear of his truck, then got back into his vehicle and followed Dominguez-Rivera and his relatives as they dashed back toward Mexico.

The relatives told investigators that Corbett had his passenger window rolled down and was pointing his pistol at them as he drove toward them. They said they were surrendering when Corbett leapt out of the truck. He transferred his gun to his left hand, they said, and used his right hand to push Dominguez-Rivera to his knees before firing.

The Border Patrol dispatcher sent out a “shots fired” call on the radio, but initially told the sheriff’s department that help was not needed and that “the situation was under control,” according to a sheriff’s report. The Border Patrol requested an ambulance but would not disclose why. By the time sheriff’s investigators arrived, Corbett had been sent home by his supervisors. He has remained on desk duty.

The Border Patrol initially told reporters that there was no videotape of the shooting. But the incident was recorded by a surveillance camera along the border. The tape shows the truck pull up near the immigrants. Corbett exits the vehicle and heads straight toward the group. The shooting is not clearly recorded.

Rheinheimer said that the tape contradicts statements Corbett made that he had to chase Dominguez-Rivera around the truck. Investigators found that the gun was fired from within about 2 feet of the victim, and the autopsy states that the bullet sliced through his chest at a downward angle, as if fired from above. Corbett is about 6 foot 4 and Dominguez-Rivera was 5 foot 3.

Corbett’s supporters have complained that the three witnesses were not separated after the shooting and were interviewed together, giving them time to coordinate their stories. The witnesses’ account makes no sense, said Edward Tuffly, head of the local Border Patrol union. Agents are trained not to shift their firearm to their weak hand.

“The way they handled the witnesses was botched,” Tuffly said.

Rheinheimer said it did not matter that the witnesses were not separated: “It’s preposterous to think that these three illegals could come up with a story that’s corroborated by the physical evidence.”

Rheinheimer said that he was taken aback by the angry e-mails over the charges but that he believed they came primarily from outside Cochise County. He said prominent local activists against illegal immigration had been relatively quiet about the case.

Across the border, there also has been a muffled response. In Naco, Sonora, the town closest to the scene of the shooting, residents are more worried about increasing drug violence, including a shootout in May that left five Mexican policemen and 18 others dead in a town 39 miles to the south.

“It’s just an isolated case,” said Trinidad Alamea, a pastor who runs a shelter for immigrants in southern Naco. “They killed someone in Agua Prieta the other day and 18 in Cananea, and another here, and another there. Not much surprises us anymore.”

nicholas.riccardi@latimes.com