El Paso, Texas – Lawyers in the case of two Border Patrol agents accused of illegally shooting a suspected drug smuggler and covering it up must ask a judge before they can mention other border incidents, including a recent armed standoff that gained international attention.
Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean have been charged in the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, a Mexican national, during a scuffle last February in Fabens. Jury selection begins Friday.
The trial, scheduled to start Tuesday, will come three weeks after U.S. authorities chased suspected drug smugglers to the border, where men carrying weapons and wearing Mexican military-style uniforms helped the suspected smugglers escape to Mexico. No shots were fired.
Prosecutors last week asked federal Judge Kathleen Cardone to exclude mentions of the Jan. 23 confrontation and incidents of border violence. In a ruling this week, Cardone said lawyers would need to ask her before any such mentions could be made in open court.
According to a federal indictment issued last year, after Ramos and Compean shot Aldrete, Compean “collected and disposed of spent casings,” and neither man reported the shooting.
Aldrete, who was shot in the buttocks, fled on foot back to Mexico after being wounded.
Ramos and Compean are charged with nearly a dozen federal crimes, including assault with intent to commit murder, assault with a dangerous weapon, and tampering with an official proceeding.
The shooting was discovered after a relative of Aldrete’s told a relative of an Arizona Border Patrol agent about the incident. The Arizona agent reported it to an investigator in the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
Prosecutors, defense attorneys and Aldrete’s lawyer could not be reached.
Aldrete, who claimed he was unarmed during the confrontation, has been accused of driving a van loaded with about 700 pounds of marijuana on the day of the shooting. Though no report of the shooting was filed, the Border Patrol agents did draft a report showing the recovery of the van.
Aldrete has been given immunity and is expected to testify.
