Ex-Border Patrol agent sentenced to life in prison in off-duty hatchet attack

A former Border Patrol agent was sentenced in a Vista court Tuesday to 30 years to life in prison for an off-duty hatchet attack that left a man blind and brain-damaged and a woman with deep cuts.

Gamalier Reyes Rivera, 34, had planned to attack his estranged wife and her new boyfriend as they slept, according to court testimony, but in the dark he mistakenly went into the wrong bedroom and attacked a couple he had never met. The 2009 attack occurred in a rental home in Escondido.

Rivera was convicted of attempted murder. The sentencing by Superior Court Judge Runston Maino means Rivera will not be eligible for parole for at least 30 years, officials said.

At the time of the attack, Rivera had been with the Border Patrol for six years.

-- Tony Perry in San Diego

Comments

[Louis Cypher]

Wow..and this is a law enforcement official.Me thinks they should do better psychological testing to make sure that mentaly unstable types dont get in.And to think this guy was the law,and carried a gun!On a side note,just to make sure you dont have any shady deals going on,Border patrol agents should be full blooded americans.Gamalier Reyes Rivera sounds like a non-american handling a situation he has no business in.Talk about the fox keeping an eye on the Hen house...

[Adam]

He deserves what he got. Not only a homicidal maniac, but not even careful enough to check who he's trying to kill first. Sad.

[S.S. CLIBURN]

DUDE you can't even get the right bedroom!

[Ray]

The man is a disgrace to law enforcement and society. He was sworn to up hold the law and not break it. He absolutely should never be let out of prison.

[Star]

wow!!! its sad to know that many of our law enforcement officers are committing crimes :( :(

[JC]

I hate to say it, but why not just execute the guy.... a planned attack like that? How brutal to want to hatchet someone to death.....