Judge: Prosecutors 'overreacted' in border shooting

A federal appeals judge this morning said prosecutors "overreacted" by charging two former U.S. Border Patrol agents with a gun charge that carried a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison.

A three-judge panel in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments today by attorneys for Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving sentences of 11 and 12 years in prison respectively for shooting a fleeing drug smuggler in the buttocks and covering it up.

"It does seem to me like the government overreacted here," said Judge E. Grady Jolly, questioning prosecutor Mark Stelmach before a crowded courtroom. "There were plenty of statutes you could have charged."

Jolly asked whether Ramos or Compean would have been prosecuted if they had reported the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who was wounded on Feb. 17, 2005, near Fabens, southeast of El Paso.

Compean picked up the shell casings at the scene of the shooting and neither agent volunteered to supervisors that they fired their weapon.

"They are being prosecuted for hiding the crime," Jolly said, suggesting the prosecution "got out of hand."

See full article at the Houston Chronicle.