TUCSON -- A federal judge could sentence a Mexican national Monday to up to 30 years to life in prison for the 2010 killing of Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry just south of Tucson, a slaying that led to the unraveling of the failed federal gun-tracking operation known as Fast and Furious. 
 
 Manuel Osorio-Arellanes pled guilty in October 2012 to first-degree murder. He was part of a group of bandits who engaged in a shootout with Terry and three other Border Patrol agents in southern Arizona. 
 
 Terry’s mother, Josephine Terry, is expected to testify before the court, a family spokesperson said in a prepared statement. Terry’s sisters, brother and chairman of the Brian Terry Foundation are also expected to show at the sentencing. 
 
 In a prepared statement, Terry’s sister Kelly Terry-Willis stressed the importance of border security before consideration of any immigration overhaul. 
 
 “I understand the need for compassion, but first we must address this dire public safety issue so that the men and women of the Border Patrol who worked with my brother will not unnecessarily be in harm’s way,” she said. 
 
 Terry was a member of the U.S. Border Patrol’s elite tactical unit that had been working the area for several nights, a few miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. 
 
 While the desert bandits scattered toward Mexico, Osorio-Arellanes was shot in the torso and unable to run. Agents discovered a live round in the chamber of the rifle he was carrying and 24 more in the magazine. 
 
 Two of the weapons recovered from the shooting scene were later traced to the Fast and Furious operation led by the Phoenix office of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. 
 
 The operation allowed weapons to be illegally sold in the United States so they could later be tracked across the border to Mexico to drug cartels there. The intent was to arrest cartel leaders, but most of the firearms disappeared. 
 
 The botched investigation led to an outcry and has had political implications, including the stepping down of federal leaders linked to Fast and Furious. 
 
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 @thecindycarcamo 
 
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 Story highlights Manuel Osorio-Arellanes pleaded guilty to killing U.S. border agent Brian Terry 
 
 His conviction was linked to the "Fast and Furious" operation 
 
 U.S. officials wanted to track weapons intended for drug cartels 
 
 Terry was killed in a gun battle occurred in 2010 on the Arizona-Mexico border 
 
 A Mexican man was sentenced Monday to 30 years' imprisonment in a border agent's 2010 shooting death linked to the federal government's "Fast and Furious" gun-tracking operation , according to a spokesperson for the U.S. District Court in Tucson. 
 
 Manuel Osorio-Arellanes, 37, had pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in October 2012 in the slaying of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry. The judge also sentenced Osorio-Arellanes to five years of supervised release. 
 
 "We are not celebrating," Terry's family said in a statement. "Today we recognized justice has been served and we believe the 30 year sentence imposed on this particular defendant is an appropriate sentence... We remain hopeful that all suspects in this murder will be brought to justice." 
 
 Osorio-Arellanes was the first conviction in a case with a connection to the "Fast and Furious" operation the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives began in 2009 with the purpose of tracking around 2,000 weapons intended for drug cartels. 
 
 Osorio-Arellanes admitted that on the night of December 14, 2010, he and four others were looking for drug traffickers to rob of marijuana. 
 
 The group encountered Terry and other Border Patrol agents along Arizona's border with Mexico, and a gun battle broke out. 
 
 In his plea agreement, Osorio-Arellanes agreed the shot that killed Terry was fired by a member of his group, although he did not claim to have personally fired the shot or blame someone else specifically for the crime. 
 
 The Terry case has been controversial because two rifles from the "Fast and Furious" operation were found at the scene of his death. But U.S. officials have not produced evidence proving that Terry was killed with either of those guns. 
 
 Osorio-Arellanes was wounded and arrested at the scene. As part of the deal, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty and dropped other charges against him. 
 
 Other suspects have been apprehended, the U.S. attorney's office reported. 
 
 Lionel Portillo-Meza and Ivan Soto-Barraza have been captured in Mexico. These defendants are charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder, conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery, attempted interference with commerce by robbery, use and carrying a firearm during a crime of violence, assault on a federal officer and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. 
 
 The indictment also alleges the defendants assaulted Border Patrol agents William Castano, Gabriel Fragoza and Timothy Keller, who were with Terry during the firefight. 
 
 In a related case, Rito Osorio-Arellanes, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013. Rito Osorio-Arellanes was not present at the incident that resulted in Terry's murder.
– After pleading guilty to first-degree murder, Manuel Osorio-Arellanes of Mexico has been sentenced to 30 years in prison over the death of US border agent Brian Terry. Osorio-Arellanes, 37, said that he was part of a group of five people trying to steal marijuana from drug traffickers on Dec. 14, 2010. That group clashed with the US Border Patrol, and Terry was killed in the ensuing gunfight. Osorio-Arellanes didn't identify Terry's shooter, but he acknowledged it was someone in his group, CNN reports. In a plea deal, US officials agreed not to seek the death penalty, though Osorio-Arellanes could have been sentenced to life in prison, the Los Angeles Times notes. Two others have also been detained in connection with the killing, which has been linked to the US "Fast and Furious" operation. Two guns from that operation were discovered on the scene.