Agent's slaying becomes rallying point

Then, as the circumstances of his death were revealed, Terry's name became a symbol. To some, he was the vicitm of government run amok. Others used his name to crack open government information or score political points.

Two high-powered assault rifles found at the scene of the Dec. 14 gunfight west of Rio Rico were sold and let loose as part of an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. That investigation was Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed a total of 2,000 firearms loose and has become a political touch point since Terry's killing helped to expose it.

Jay Dobyns, an ATF agent from Tucson who helped bring Operation Fast and Furious into the public eye, thinks Terry's murder may help stop abuses of power he's been complaining about in his agency.

"Ultimately, his (Terry's) contribution to law enforcement, through his passing, is going to be much bigger than any event he could have participated in as a law enforcement officer or any arrest he could have made," said Dobyns, a former UA football player who recently acted as emcee at a fundraiser for Terry's mother.

Terry's name is a lever for some in political positions to dig into the operations of the U.S. Justice Department. Sen. Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, has repeatedly said he's pursuing an investigation of the case because he gave his word to Terry's parents that he would.

"The Brian Terry family is entitled to all the information the government knows about their son being murdered," he said in a Fox News interview last week.

Powerful symbol

Terry's power as a symbol derives in part from his personal characteristics. A handsome bodybuilder, Terry looked the part of the federal agent and former Marine he was. At a relatively advanced age, he passed the rigorous training to become a member of BorTac, the Border Patrol's tactical unit.

"We have guys that are in extremely good shape that are in their 20s that can't pass it," said Brandon Judd, president of the agents' union in Southern Arizona, the National Border Patrol Council local 2544. "Brian was in his upper 30s. To make it through the program, with two years in the Border Patrol, that was quite an accomplishment."

Terry would work out a couple of hours a day and run five or six miles, his cousin Robert Heyer said. He was also careful about his diet, eating egg-white omelets, snacking on organic peanut butter and limiting himself to low-carb beer.

Repeating an oft-told story of Terry's BorTac training, Phoenix attorney Pat McGroder recounted: "He carried a guy three miles on his back when he was only supposed to do it for a mile. Brian was an extraordinary physical specimen, committed to not only physical but mental fitness. Brian exemplified what you want" in a federal agent.

Terry so embodied his role that his family put this Ernest Hemingway quote on his gravestone in Michigan: "There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never really care for anything else thereafter."

Terry's outstanding law-enforcer profile lends itself to use in the discussion of the political issues that his death raised, said McGroder, who is representing Terry's parents in what may become a wrongful-death suit against the federal government.

"There's no myth about him or the way he died," he said. "To the extent that his life has been politicized, it certainly hasn't come from the family. The tragedy of his life is so entwined with all these inflammatory nationalistic issues."

GOP MOST CRITICAL

Border issues and gun issues - they're both hot-button topics that have motivated political conservatives in recent years. Most of the criticism of Operation Fast and Furious is coming from Republicans or other anti-Obama conservatives, while Democrats who wade into the discussion of Operation Fast and Furious limit their critiques to the "gun-walking" tactics used in the investigation.

For months, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, a Republican who is exploring a run for Congress, has been raising Brian Terry's name - calling him "my brother in law enforcement" - in dozens of speeches and talk-show appearances. He has said Terry's murder was likely the result of an Obama administration effort to justify gun control, of which Operation Fast and Furious was a part.

Other Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney and dozens of members of Congress, are calling for Attorney General Eric Holder's resignation because of Fast and Furious.

At a hearing about Operation Fast and Furious Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, Congressman Darrell Issa, R.-Calif, described Terry as the victim of Justice Department misconduct.

"Brian Terry is dead today, in my opinion, because of this failed program, but even today we won't hear Justice taking responsibility," Issa said.

Dobyns, the ATF agent from Tucson, is hoping that a persistent lack of accountability in federal law enforcement is exposed by the investigations into Terry's death and Operation Fast and Furious. As investigations open doors into the bureau, the Justice Department and possibly the White House, he foresees that supervisors will no longer feel protected by their position.

But Judd, the head of the agents' union local, said most Border Patrol agents see discouraging signs in how the investigation of Terry's death has unfolded so far.

"Agents know that we're held accountable for our actions in the field. Why aren't higher level government officials held accountable for what they do?" he asked. "A year later and in the ATF, nobody has been held accountable. We have one U.S. attorney who has resigned," Judd said, referring to former U.S. Attorney for Arizona Dennis Burke.

DEPOLITICIZING MURDER

Terry family attorney McGroder and family spokesman Heyer, Terry's cousin, have tried to depoliticize Terry's murder. McGroder and other attorneys who have represented the family have long said their aim is not to put any agents or government officials in prison over Fast and Furious.

Heyer, who works as a U.S. Secret Service agent in San Diego, made that point in a news interview this summer. But that was anathema to Mike Vanderboegh, one of the pro-gun-rights bloggers who helped bring the story of Fast and Furious into the public eye in late 2010 and early 2011.

He called Heyer, a cousin who served as something of a mentor to Terry, "the Obama administration's inside man in the Terry family."

In an interview, Heyer - like Terry, a son of working-class Michigan - downplayed the meanings others have put on his cousin's death.

"The No. 1 goal is that all of Brian's killers are brought to justice and prosecuted," Heyer said. "Here it is coming up on the anniversary, and that remains our No. 1 priority."

"We're a bunch of blue-collar kids who grew up in the suburbs of Detroit. Our parents all worked in the auto plants. This goes far beyond any type of political witch hunt. This is about right and wrong."

Contact reporter Tim Steller at 807-8427 or at tsteller@azstarnet.com