Border Patrol agent who killed illegal immigrant back on duty

A U.S. Border Patrol agent who fatally shot an illegal immigrant in Arizona in January has been returned to active duty although authorities were still determining whether he should face criminal charges.

Agent Nicholas Corbett, assigned to the patrol's Naco station, returned to active duty about two weeks ago, said Jesus Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson sector.

Authorities said Corbett fatally shot Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera on Jan. 12 while trying to take Dominguez Rivera, his sister-in-law and his two brothers into custody near the Mexican border.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon and the dead man's family have strongly condemned the shooting and demanded a full investigation.

Xavier Rios, a Border Patrol national spokesman, said Corbett's return to work "doesn't mean he's been cleared."

"There's an investigation going on. The FBI is looking at the civil rights side of it, and Cochise County is looking at the criminal side," Rios added.

The county Attorney's office released documents Monday from an extensive sheriff's department investigation of the shooting, and findings of the medical examiner along with testimony of witnesses do not appear to substantiate the agent's version of events as initially described by patrol spokesmen.

County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer said his office won't determine whether to file charges against Corbett _ who has declined to be interviewed by investigators _ until the FBI completes its own investigation.

Authorities initially said the shooting resulted from an apparent confrontation in which Dominguez Rivera allegedly threatened the agent with a rock.

Corbett's attorney, Daniel Santander, said he could not comment because he has not seen the reports. Mexican consular officials did not immediately return calls Tuesday.

Dominguez Rivera's brothers and sister-in-law told investigators that the agent came up to Dominguez Rivera from behind, pushing down on his right shoulder to get him to kneel while his left hand holding the gun was draped over the victim's left shoulder, when the shot was fired.

The medical examiner found that the bullet tore in a diagonally vertical trajectory through his left chest and lung, heart, stomach and liver, lodging in his right abdomen.

Among documents released Monday, a county investigator quoted a Border Patrol supervisor as saying Corbett came around the front of his SUV and saw a man with a rock in his hand close to the rear of the vehicle, and that the agent fired one shot when "the subject made a motion to throw the rock."