TUCSON, Ariz., (Reuters) – Two ex-U.S. Border Patrol agents who forced a group of suspected drug smugglers to chew handfuls of marijuana and flee shoeless into the chilly Arizona desert were each sentenced yesterday to two years in federal prison.
A jury convicted Dario Castillo, 25, and Ramon Zuniga, 31, in April of violating the civil rights of the four Mexican men, all of whom were in the United States illegally, in connection with the incident in southern Arizona five years ago. The two defendants, who were later fired from the Border Patrol, each made brief statements apologizing for their actions before they were sentenced in a Tucson courtroom. Both have said they were fatigued and under stress at the end of long work shifts when they abused the smugglers.
“I allowed these individuals to get the best of me that night,” Zuniga told the judge. “I’ve regretted those actions every single day for the past five years.”
The 2008 incident unfolded after another border agent mounted on horseback discovered a group of men sleeping in a dry streambed in the desert and called for backup.
