Border Agent Faces Civil Rights Charges in Immigrant Death

In an Arizona case that Latino activists have likened to the police beating of Rodney G. King, a federal grand jury has indicted a former U.S. Border Patrol agent on civil rights violations and other charges in connection with the 1992 slaying of an unarmed Mexican man who was shot in the back.

The indictment against former agent Michael Andrew Elmer, handed down Wednesday in Tucson, is believed to be the first time that federal civil rights charges have been brought against a Border Patrol agent for shooting a person to death while on duty.

The charges come at a time when a national uproar over illegal immigration has prompted President Clinton to propose bolstering the Border Patrol by an additional 600 agents, increasing its staff by about 15%.

But activists and some lawmakers have called on the Clinton Adminstration to improve Border Patrol training, supervision and screening of new recruits before embarking on a hiring spree. Many critics contend that accelerated hiring drives during the 1980s resulted in the recruitment of some agents who were unfit for the rigors of the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Border Patrol, an agency of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, stations most of its more than 4,000 agents along the Southwestern border.

If convicted, Elmer could face a sentence of up to life in prison and fines of up to $800,000. He plans to deny the charges, an attorney said.

Elmer, 30, who resigned from the Border Patrol last spring, was indicted on the federal charges eight months after an Arizona jury acquitted him on murder and other state counts stemming from the slaying. He is currently free on bail on state assault charges in connection with an earlier incident in which he allegedly sprayed automatic-weapons fire at a group of border crossers.

In the federal case, Elmer is charged with violating the rights of Dario Miranda Valenzuela, a 26-year-old Mexican whom Elmer shot and killed in an isolated Nogales, Ariz., canyon on the evening of June 12, 1992.

During testimony in the state case, Elmer acknowledged firing the shots that killed Miranda, but said he feared he was under fire from drug traffickers. Elmer also conceded dragging the body 50 yards to a ravine in an effort to conceal it.

According to court testimony, Elmer spoke to his partner of plans to return the next day and bury the body in Mexico.

Prosecutors have portrayed Elmer as a rogue agent with a propensity to fire his weapon unlawfully.

This week’s federal indictment also accuses Elmer of violating the civil rights of illegal immigrants crossing the border on two previous occasions during which he allegedly fired at them. Elmer has contended he was firing warning shots, which are prohibited by policy, during those incidents.

The indictment also accuses Elmer of obstructing justice by attempting to “corruptly persuade” his partner to cover up the fatal shooting of Miranda. According to court testimony, Elmer threatened his partner, Thomas A. Watson, by raising his gun to persuade Watson not to report the shooting and death of Miranda. Watson did not report the shooting until the following day. Elmer denied making any threats.

Several other agents also failed to report the shooting, as required by policy, testimony showed. However, only Watson and Elmer knew the shots had killed Miranda, authorities say.

After the acquittal in the state case, enraged Latino activists in Arizona called on U.S. authorities to bring civil rights charges against Elmer. Mexican authorities also called for a federal inquiry. Critics cited similarities with the King beating case, in which federal civil rights indictments against four Los Angeles police officers followed their acquittal on state charges of beating the motorist.

“I truly believe this is the Rodney King case for our community,” said Isabel Garcia, a Tucson attorney and longtime activist who represents Miranda’s family. “If the federal government did not file these kinds of charges, this community would feel absolutely no protection of our civil rights.”

Elmer immediately denied the federal charges through one of his attorneys, Jefferson Keenan of Tucson. Elmer’s lawyers have portrayed him as a law-abiding officer who was placed in an intense drug-trafficking corridor and “war zone” without adequate training and supervision.

“This is not surprising,” Keenan said of the indictment, which followed a lengthy grand jury investigation. “The case has been tried in the media. The people who believe the state verdict was unjust aren’t the ones who saw and heard all the evidence.”

Elmer, an Army veteran, had spent more than three years as a Border Patrol agent when the fatal shooting occurred.