Sentencing set for Fast and Furious suspect

PHOENIX (AP) — A Mexican man was to be sentenced in federal court today in the killing of a U.S. Border Patrol agent whose death revealed a botched law-enforcement sting in which agents lost track of hundreds of guns sold to criminals.

Manuel Osorio-Arellanes is the only defendant to face justice in the U.S. in the death of Agent Brian Terry, whose family is traveling to Arizona to attend the sentencing hearing. Prosecutors are seeking 30 years in prison for Osorio-Arellanes, who was wounded in the shootout on Dec. 14, 2010.

The gunbattle brought attention to the Fast and Furious operation in which agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives allowed suspected gun smugglers to purchase weapons from Phoenix-area shops with the intention of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels.

Agents allowed the purchase of 2,000 guns, but then lost track of more than 1,400 of them. Two of those guns were found at the scene of Terry's murder in southern Arizona, and dozens of others were found at crime scenes in Mexico.

The Fast and Furious operation led to the resignation of top officials and resulted in the country's chief law enforcement officer being held in contempt after he refused to divulge documents for a congressional investigation. The U.S. attorney assigned to Arizona also resigned following his involvement in the sting.