U.S. TO PAY $1.9 MILLION TO FAMILY OF TEEN SLAIN BY MARINE

EL PASO, The federal government will pay $1.9 million to the family of a
teenager who was killed by a Marine patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border, the
family's attorney said today.

The controversy over the May 27, 1997, shooting led to the suspension of
military patrols along the Rio Grande. Esequiel Hernandez Jr., 18, was
killed while herding goats near Redford, Tex., 200 miles southeast of El
Paso, by Marines who said the youth fired on them.

After a long battle over what happened, the Hernandez family has signed a
settlement agreement with the Justice Department and the Navy, lawyer Bill
Weinacht of Pecos said in a statement. No further details were available.
Neither Weinacht nor members of the Hernandez family returned calls for
comment.

The settlement is "one more piece of evidence that there was total
wrongdoing in this case by various arms of the government," said the Rev.
Melvin LaFollette, a Redford activist. "Innocent parties don't pass out
millions gratuitously."

Justice Department spokeswoman Chris Watney declined to comment, citing
federal privacy law.

Military officials said Hernandez twice fired his .22-caliber rifle at
members of a four-man Marine Corps patrol conducting anti-drug surveillance
along the Rio Grande. They said the Marine team leader shot the teenager
when he raised his gun a third time.

Relatives said Hernandez would never knowingly have shot at anyone. They
said he carried the rifle to protect his livestock from wild dogs and
occasionally to shoot targets. The Marines were wearing camouflage.

Federal and state grand juries refused to indict any of the Marines. Joint
Task Force 6, an El Paso-based federal agency that coordinates anti-drug
missions between the military and civilian authorities, concluded the
Marines acted within mission guidelines.

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press

Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"