http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/5347556.html

NEW ORLEANS — Federal prosecutors may have overreacted in their case against two Border Patrol agents who were sentenced to lengthy prison terms after they were convicting of shooting a fleeing drug suspect and hiding evidence of the incident, an appeals court judge said Monday.

"It does seem to me that the government overreacted here," said Judge E. Grady Jolly, one of three judges of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.

A federal jury in Texas convicted the agents of assault, obstruction of justice and civil rights violations in the wounding of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila on the Texas border near El Paso in 2005. A federal judge sentenced Compan to 12 years in prison and Ramos to 11 years.

There was no indication when the judges would rule in the appeal, but Compean's lawyer, Bob Baskett, said he was encouraged by Jolly's comments.

"They certainly were aware of the signficant issues in the case," Baskett said after Monday's hearing.

Ramos' attorney, David Botsford, said he didn't read anything into the judges' remarks.

"The court is going to follow the law," he said outside the New Orleans courthouse.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Stelmach declined to comment after the hearing.

Jolly, during questioning of Stelmach, said that if the agents had reported the shooting as required, "this prosecution never would have occurred, in all likelihood."

"For some reason, this one got out of hand, it seems to me," Jolly added.

The convictions of Ramos and Compean caused a national firestorm among conservative lawmakers and others. Critics have repeatedly called the prosecution unjustified and the sentences extreme.

Aldrete survived the shooting. He was arrested in November following an October indictment on various drug charges.