Sentence Upheld for Controversial Drug Smuggler

EL PASO, Texas (AP) _ An appeals court has upheld the prison term for an admitted drug smuggler wounded in a controversial shooting by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans on Monday upheld sentences totaling nearly a decade in prison for Osvaldo Aldrete Davila. He was sentenced for smuggling marijuana into the U.S. in 2005.

Aldrete was shot by Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos in 2005 while trying to smuggle a load of drugs into Texas. He pleaded guilty to smuggling more marijuana several months later.

The former agents were convicted in the shooting — angering many who felt they were being punished for doing their job — but their sentences were later commuted.

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