The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals today affirmed the major counts
against former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean,
reversing only a minor obstruction of justice count.
Ramos and Compean are serving 11- and 12-year prison sentences,
respectively, after a jury convicted them of violating federal gun laws
and covering up the shooting of a drug smuggler as he fled back to
Mexico after driving across the border with 743 pounds of marijuana in
February 2005. U.S. Attorney
Johnny Sutton's office gave the smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila,
immunity to serve as the government's star witness and testify against
the border agents.