REPORT CONCLUDES CONVICTED AGENTS LIED, COVERED UP SHOOTING

EL PASO, Texas -- A federal report released Wednesday on the shooting of a
suspected drug smuggler by Border Patrol agents concurs with prosecutors
that the men committed obstruction of justice by failing to report the
shooting, destroying evidence and lying to investigators. Conservative
members of Congress have criticized the case against the former agents, who
were fired after their convictions, saying the men were doing their job
when they injured Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in 2005 near El Paso.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security report on the investigation was
drafted in 2006 after Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were convicted
and each was sentenced to more than a decade in federal prison. The 77-page
report was made public Wednesday and offered few if any new details on the
case.

The report, which is heavily redacted of names and some specific details,
primarily outlines what Aldrete said happened on Feb. 17, 2005, as he tried
to run from Border Patrol agents after trying to elude them in a van loaded
with marijuana.

According to the report, Aldrete, who was given immunity and has filed a
multimillion dollar claim against the federal government, told
investigators he was unarmed and shot as he ran away from Compean and other
agents. He said he tried to surrender and ran again after Compean slipped
while trying to hit him with the butt of a shotgun.

The report also notes that other agents on the scene that day could not
confirm whether Aldrete was armed and initially lied about whether they
were aware of the shooting. They later cooperated with authorities. Those
agents, whose names were removed from the report, were not prosecuted.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose office prosecuted the
case and who has been widely criticized for pursing the agents and not the
drug dealer shot, declined to comment.

Lawyers for Ramos and Compean did not immediately return phone calls
seeking comment.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said the report
only bolsters the congressman's support of the agents.

"The OIG report has just emboldened our position because there is nothing
in there that indicates these agents were not justified in shooting this
individual," said Tara Setmayer. "This finally sheds some light on what
these agents were thinking."

She pointed to Compean's written statement which she said reflects that he
"clearly believed the drug smuggler had a weapon and feared for his life."

Two Texas congressmen said the office of inspector general for Homeland
Security told them the report would say that the agets planned to "go out
and shoot Mexicans" on that day.

"The congressman is absolutely unequivocally not happy about the fact that
what he was told was in the report, is not in the report," said Jack
Hirschfield, a spokesman for Rep. Michael McCaul, an Austin Republican.

"So far it looks to me like Agents Ramos and Compean may not have followed
proper procedure following the shooting, which at most should have resulted
in their suspension from the force, but not criminal procedure," Rep. John
Culberson, D-Houston, said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon.

Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., also asked Senate Judiciary Chairman
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to pursue a Senate probe of the prosecution and
sentencing.

Rohrabacher and others also criticized President Bush Wednesday for not
pardoning the agents.

Ramos and Compean were sentenced in October and reported to prison in
January. Reports were released Tuesday that Ramos was attacked in prison in
Mississippi on Saturday night after the airing of an episode of America's
Most Wanted that highlighted his case.

Compean is jailed at a federal prison in Northern Ohio.