EX-AGENTS LIED, COVERED UP SHOOTING: ACCORDING TO REPORT

Convicted former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean
misled investigators, violated agency policy on deadly force and use
of firearms, and concealed key evidence after shooting a drug smuggler
at the border near Fabens, according to a Homeland Security Office of
the Inspector General report.

The report, released Wednesday, supports facts the U.S. attorney used
to build a case to prosecute Ramos and Compean, who were convicted by
a jury last year of assault, discharge of a firearm in relation to a
crime of violence, a civil rights charge and obstruction of justice.

A spokeswoman in the U.S. Attorney's Office, which has come under fire
for prosecuting the case, on Wednesday declined to comment about the
report's findings.

Ramos' lawyer, Mary Stillinger, described the report as a way for
Homeland Security officials to protect themselves.

"It's very self-serving," she said. "This report is written as if
every word (the smuggler) said is true, which I think is kind of
ridiculous."

attacked the credibility of the Inspector General's office, saying the
prosecution of the agents might have been helped by a misstatement
last fall from an Inspector General official.

Last fall, Inspector General officials told congressmen that Homeland
Security had sworn testimony that the agents intended to cause harm to
Mexicans. But an official Tuesday admitted that no such evidence
exists, said Michael Green, a press secretary for Rep. John Culberson,
R-Texas.

Inspector General Richard Skinner said his deputies under oath
portrayed the agents "as rogue cops who were not in fear of their
lives and who were 'out to shoot Mexicans,' " Culberson said in a
statement. He added that Congress was given the false information "to
cover up what appears to be an unjust criminal prosecution."

Also Wednesday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy,
D-Vt., agreed to allow a hearing on the case. Some legislators have
said the agents' sentences, both more than 10 years, are too extreme.

Ramos is at the Federal Correctional Institution at Yazoo City, Miss.,
Compean is at the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Ohio.