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)

"So you destroyed the scene for someone that you worked with?" prosecutor Debra Kanof asked him at trial.

"Yes, ma'am."

Vasquez, the two supervisors and other agents on scene all testified that neither Compean nor Ramos ever told them that the suspect pulled a gun or had something that looked like a gun. If Aldrete had been armed, the others testified, Compean and Ramos should have called out a warning.

"I would have made an attempt to make sure as many people that were there on the scene and on the radio knew that there was a possibility of somebody in this area with a weapon," testified 16-year Border Patrol veteran Lorenzo Yrigoyen, who was standing exposed on the levee road as Aldrete headed into Mexico.

If Aldrete had actually been armed, one of the prosecutors asked him, "You were a sitting duck up there, weren't you?"

"Yes, sir," Yrigoyen testified.

Border Patrol brass in El Paso and investigators at the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General learned of the shooting two weeks later from an agent in Arizona. His mother-in-law had received a call from her childhood friend, Aldrete's mother, whose son was claiming he'd been shot by the Border Patrol.

Both mothers wondered: Could it be true?

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Retired Border Patrol agent David Ham, a former assistant chief in El Paso, trekked out to the shooting scene not long ago. He wanted to see it for himself as the national outrage grew.

"They're picking the wrong guys to make heroes," he said.

After 31 years in the Border Patrol, Ham heads up the retired agents' association in El Paso. Months back, a Border Patrol official gave the group an overview of the case against Ramos and Compean; Ham and some other retired colleagues have since refused to appear at vigils or news conferences in defense of the men.

"If we believe in what we believe _ which is honor first, that's our motto _ how can these two guys say they lived up to that?" he said.

The public's almost mythological image of the border, which reduces the reality of the region to a stereotype framed by "insecurities and anxiety," partly explains support for the agents, said Howard Campbell, a cultural anthropologist at The University of Texas at El Paso.

"It's good vs. evil," he said. "They think this is just one emblematic case of the border being out of control and taken over by drug smugglers ... and the United States is being invaded. That's the imagery. ... That overrides the facts."

Ramos' lawyer said the case, instead, represents a contradiction between "the reality on the riverbank and the bureaucracy of regulations."

"They're out there in life-and-death situations, and then when something happens _ just to hell with them? Let's pull out all the stops and go after them? That doesn't seem quite right," said attorney Mary Stillinger.

Stillinger hopes the case might prompt Congress to re-examine the statute for using a firearm during a violent crime, to establish an exception for law officers. A primary source of contention is the 10-year statutory sentence the agents received on that charge.

Appeals are planned, and Ramos' wife met recently with members of Congress who have asked for hearings. Calls for a presidential pardon have intensified following reports that Ramos was beaten in prison after inmates discovered he was a former agent.

Rancor about the prosecution hasn't abated.

One Web site recently asked: "Was There a Government Conspiracy to Frame Ramos & Compean?" The posting argued that ballistics reports failed to support prosecutors' claims that the bullet that hit Aldrete was fired from Ramos' gun. (In truth, defense attorneys _ and Ramos himself _ signed a document agreeing that the bullet came from Ramos' gun.)

Two jurors also signed affidavits on behalf of the defense, saying they did not think Ramos and Compean were guilty of some counts on which they were convicted.

Another juror, who asked to be identified only as Bob G., told the AP he stands by his decision at trial.

"They were clearly guilty," he said, adding that there was no evidence the drug smuggler was armed. "This thing, `They were just doing their job.' Well, what kind of job were they doing?"

It's true, that until that day, the agents had been productive employees, husbands and fathers, officers whom other agents were supposed to learn from, said Luis Barker, retired chief of the El Paso Border Patrol sector and the agents' former boss.

"Here is a moment, an incident, and it took all that away," Barker said.

It's also true that the smuggler, whose urethra was severed in the shooting, was given immunity for his actions on the day of the incident in exchange for his testimony. He has filed a $5 million claim with the Border Patrol.

Barker understands how some might see that as a cruel twist of fate.

"But the rule of law still applies," he said. "If this guy's running away and he's shot in the butt, then he's obviously not a threat. OK, `Well, I thought he had something in his hand.' Then why didn't you tell that supervisor?"

(Barker noted that Compean, in an administrative proceeding with Barker following his arrest, also never mentioned that Aldrete appeared to have a weapon or something shiny in his hand.)

"The long and short of it is, the system worked _ as it should have," Barker said.

Jurors heard something similar just before they began deliberations.

"... We're not going to throw away the United States Constitution," lead prosecutor Kanof said in her closing argument. "We're not going to wad it up and put it in the trash can because Osvaldo was transporting marijuana that day. Because if we do that, then we have no expectation of living in a free society."

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On the Net:

Trial transcripts: http://tinyurl.com/367akq

DHS investigative report: http://tinyurl.com/2nhdhx