Call for Mistrial

The attorney for U.S. Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos is calling for a mistrial, arguing that the prosecution violated the "Jencks Act requirement," which "requires prior statements of a witness be turned over to the defense before the defense begins cross-examination." The defense for Ramos was never shown a Department of Homeland Security memo by Special Agent Christopher Sanchez, which may have served to prove the agents' innocence.

As previously reported by WND, the memo lists seven Border Patrol agents and two supervisors who were on the scene of the Feb. 17, 2005, shooting incident for which Ramos and Compean are now in federal prison, sentenced to 11 and 12 years respectively.

Mary Stillinger, the attorney for Jose Compean, adds:

"What the Sanchez memo proves is that if Ramos and Compean were guilty that day, then the other Border Patrol agents who were there and their two supervisors were equally guilty."

"At the trial, the prosecution acted like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world for my client to have assumed the other agents heard the shooting. Yet here you have a DHS special agent investigating the shooting, and Christopher Sanchez came to the conclusion Ramos came to."