BORDER TRIAL

Agent Testifies He Shot In Self-Defense

One of two U.S. Border Patrol agents on trial in the wounding of an
admitted drug smuggler near Fabens denied any wrongdoing Wednesday.

Ignacio Ramos testified that he shot Osvaldo Aldrete Davila after the
Mexican national turned toward him with what appeared to be a gun.

Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean are on trial for nearly a dozen federal
felonies in connection with the February 2005 shooting and an alleged cover-up.

"I believe I saw a gun," Ramos told the jury when questioned by one
of his lawyers. He also testified that he made the "split-second"
decision to shoot after first hearing several shots fired and finding
Compean on the ground as Aldrete tried to run back to Mexico. Ramos
testified that he initially assumed Compean had been shot.

Federal investigators said the agents, who have been on indefinite
suspension since the shooting was discovered, violated a host of
federal laws and Border Patrol regulations when they shot Aldrete
after he tried to elude other agents trying to make a traffic stop.

Aldrete has admitted transporting about 700 pounds of marijuana but
denied carrying a gun.

Compean is accused of firing several shots at Aldrete, while Ramos
has been accused of firing a single shot that hit Aldrete in the
buttocks. Investigators said the agents never reported the shooting
and tried to cover it up by picking up several spent gun shells.

The shooting was disclosed when Aldrete's mother told the
mother-in-law of an Arizona Border Patrol agent what happened.

Ramos denied trying to keep the shooting a secret Wednesday, but he
did say he never reported it.

"I assumed it had been reported by somebody," Ramos said of several
other agents who were at the shooting scene that day.

Ramos is scheduled to be cross-examined today.