Source: Houston Chronicle, page 30A
(http://www.chron.com/cgibin/auth/story/content/chronicle/metropolitan/
97/08/13/border.30.html)
Contact: viewpoints@chron.com

3 Marines get immunity in border shooting case

CONROE [TX] (AP) Three of four U.S. Marines involved in the
May shooting death of a West Texas teenager have been offered
immunity in return for their testimony, an attorney for one of
the servicemen and a prosecutor said.

Conroe attorney Gerald Crow, appointed by the Justice Department
to represent Lance Corp. James M. Blood, told the Conroe Courier
on Tuesday that Blood will appear before a Presidio County grand
jury in Marfa on Thursday.

Crow said Blood and two other Marines have been offered immunity
from prosecution in the shooting death of Esequiel Hernandez Jr.
not far from his home in Redford.

Presidio County District Attorney Albert Valadez confirmed the
immunity agreement on Tuesday, the newspaper said.

"You grant immunity to those that you want to have testify about
facts that might result in a prosecution," Valadez said. "I can
confirm the agreement, but I can't get into any details."

The grand jury is meeting for the second time Thursday to
consider charges in the May 20 shooting death.

Hernandez was killed after crossing paths with a fourman Marine
surveillance team while tending his goat herd in Redford, a Rio
Grande community about 200 miles downstream from El Paso.

Military officials contend Hernandez fired twice at the
camouflaged Marines with a .22caliber rifle and was about to
shoot again when Cpl. Clemente Banuelos fired with an M16.

Prosecutors and lawenforcement officers, however, have said
their findings don't match up with the military's version of
events. An autopsy report indicated Hernandez was not facing
Banuelos when he was shot.

"He (Valadez) just wants them to come in there and tell what
happened, and in order to make sure that they'll do that, he's
just gone ahead and given them immunity," Crow said.

"He has not given immunity to Banuelos," Crow said. "But I've
never thought they were going to indict any of them. The most
likely, of course, would be Banuelos, but I think the odds are
against that."

Houston attorney Jack Zimmermann, who represents Banuelos, told
The Associated Press on Tuesday night that the other Marines'
testimony could only help his client.

"I have asked the district attorney from the very beginning to
let these men testify," Zimmermann said. "They've told the truth
from the very beginning."

The Hernandez shooting has provoked criticism about the growing
militarization along the U.S.Mexico border and also prompted the
military to review its antidrug operations and suspend missions
similar to the one that resulted in Hernandez's death.