20071203289 | Judge: Prosecutors 'overreacted' in border shooting | /

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Judge: Prosecutors 'overreacted' in border shooting

By SUSAN CARROLL Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle A federal appeals judge this morning said prosecutors "overreacted" by charging two former U.S. Border Patrol agents with a gun charge that carried a mandatory sentence of at least 10 years in prison.
A three-judge panel in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans heard arguments today by attorneys for Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean, who are serving sentences of 11 and 12 years in prison respectively for shooting a fleeing drug smuggler in the buttocks and covering it up.

"It does seem to me like the government overreacted here," said Judge E. Grady Jolly, questioning prosecutor Mark Stelmach before a crowded courtroom. "There were plenty of statutes you could have charged." Continue to the Houston Chronicle for complete story Sphere: Related Content

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