CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas, June 20, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, lawyers for Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca asked the Supreme Court to take the case for a second time (cert.petition docket No. 17-1678).
Hernandez, an unarmed teenager, was playing with his friends in a cement culvert near the U.S./Mexico border when he was shot in the head in June 2010 by U.S. Border Patrol, agent, Jesus Mesa, Jr.
Last year, the Supreme Court Justices agreed to review the case and, and after hearing oral arguments, reversed a lower-court decision by the 5th circuit that had held that Agent Mesa was entitled to immunity from plaintiffs' claims. In March of this year, despite the Supreme Court's ruling, the full federal appeals court for the 5th circuit in New Orleans once again sided with Mesa, holding that federal courts couldn't award damages even if plaintiffs' allegations were true.
Petitioners are seeking to return to the Supreme Court for a second time, asking it to once again correct the 5th circuit's decision and to reaffirm that courts have the power to provide damages to victims of unconstitutional federal government conduct who would otherwise have no remedy.
Robert C. Hilliard, who argued the case to the Supreme Court the first time stated: "Shouldn't an officer's conduct in killing an unarmed, unthreatening boy, be governed by the very constitution the officer took an oath to abide by? To say our country's constitution must remain powerless when a US law enforcement officer murders a child is to put a match to the very paper it's written on."
Also representing Sergio Hernandez is Stephen Vladeck, constitutional law scholar and Professor of Law at the University of Texas Law School, who stated: "As one of the Fifth Circuit judges noted, the core claim in this case is that Agent Mesa committed what was essentially a 'cold-blooded murder' when he shot and killed Sergio Hernández. Now more than ever, the idea that federal courts are powerless to provide damages in such cases—and must leave victims of such misconduct by federal law enforcement officers along the U.S. border with no legal remedy—is one that shouldn't sit well with anyone, including, we hope, a majority of the Justices."
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Hilliard Muñoz Gonzales LLP (HMG) specializes in mass torts, personal injury, product liability, commercial and business litigation, and wrongful death. Hilliard Muñoz Gonzales LLP has been successfully representing clients in the United States and Mexico since 1986. Bob Hilliard obtained the Largest Verdict in the country in 2012 and the #1 verdict in Texas, he currently is co-lead counsel in the single biggest litigation in US history, GM's ignition switch defect litigation, currently pending in the Southern District of New York.
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