The attorney for a Border Patrol agent who killed a Mexican teen says he's considering filing an appeal after a federal appeals court ruled the agent can be sued in civil court.
Attorney Sean Chapman said he is considering filing an appeal for a hearing before a larger panel of 9th U.S. Circuit Court judges, or with the U.S. Supreme Court.
A three-judge panel ruled Tuesday that the family of 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez can sue agent Lonnie Swartz because the teen was constitutionally protected. A similar case out of Texas has made its way through a different appeals court, which found the Mexican teen in that case wasn't constitutionally protected.
Swartz was acquitted of second-degree murder this year but faces a retrial and also a civil suit filed on behalf of the boy's mother.
