What Really Happened in Border Shooting?

Former U.S. Border Patrol Agent David Ham points toward the location at Fabens, Texas, on Monday, Feb. 5, 2007, where former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean shot drug smuggler Osvaldo Davila last year. The agents began serving prison sentences in January after their convictions in the incident. (AP Photo/Mark Lambie) (Mark Lambie - AP)

Aldrete testified that he never had any gun or anything "shiny" in his hands, and that he ran from Compean because the agent had tried to hit him and "I got scared." More striking were the agents' own conflicting stories and actions _ and the statements of other Border Patrol officers who testified against them, including the five agents and two supervisors who showed up on the scene.

Among the discrepancies:

_ In a handwritten statement to investigators, Compean said Ramos was "standing next to me" when Ramos took the final shot. At trial, Ramos testified that Compean was on the ground when he ran past him and fired. Compean testified that he was on one knee and getting to his feet when Ramos ran by him and fired, but he said he didn't see Ramos shoot.

_ In his handwritten statement, Compean said he and Ramos saw Aldrete climbing out of the Rio Grande into Mexico and he "looked like he was limping." In that statement Compean acknowledged, "I think Nacho might have hit him." At trial, when asked if he'd "ever" thought Aldrete had been hit, Compean said no. Ramos testified, "I didn't see him limping."

_ Testimony revealed that Compean told some fellow agents that he and Aldrete had scuffled and that Aldrete threw dirt in his face; he told others he had slipped, and that's how he got dirt in his face.

Neither Ramos nor Compean reported the shooting, even after one of the supervisors on scene asked Compean if he'd been assaulted. Border Patrol policy requires that all weapon discharges _ accidental or otherwise _ be reported verbally to a supervisor within an hour.

Once an agent-involved shooting is reported, a sector evidence team is dispatched to take measurements and pictures, and investigate what happened to allow supervisors to determine whether the shooting was justified. The FBI is called. The fired weapon is held for examination.

None of this occurred that day.

Instead, Compean admitted that he picked up his spent bullet casings, which would usually be preserved for the evidence team, and tossed them into the drainage ditch.

The two agents had attended quarterly firearms training the day before the incident. Ramos was also a member of the sector evidence response team and a former firearms instructor.

In his drug seizure report, Compean also failed to mention the gunfire or that Aldrete had a weapon. The report said only: "The driver was able to abscond back to Mexico."

Compean did tell at least two other agents that he fired at the driver. One was Art Vasquez, who testified that Compean asked him to look for additional shell casings. Vasquez testified that he found five and tossed them into the murky ditch, then called Compean to tell him he'd thrown them away.