Court Won’t Hear Appeal By Former BP Agents Ramos, Compean

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a fleeing drug smuggler and trying to cover it up.

The high court refused to consider an appeal from Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. The former agents were convicted in 2006 of shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila near El Paso on the Texas-Mexico border.

Investigators said the agents never reported the shooting and tried to cover it up by picking up several spent gun shells. Both former agents said they thought Aldrete was armed. Their conviction had been affirmed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.

They served two years in prison before getting their 10-year sentences commuted by President George W. Bush.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) AP-NY-03-23-09 1119EDT