EL PASO, Texas. - The former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler in the buttocks last year were sentenced Thursday - Ignacio Ramos to 11 years and a day in prison and Jose Alonso Compean to 12 years - but allowed to remain free on bail at least until mid-January.

The agents and their families who had prepared themselves for the possibility that the agents would be taken to jail after Thursday's hearing breathed a sigh of relief.

Ramos and Compean each have three children.

The agents must surrender Jan. 17 but hoped that they would be allowed to continue to stay out on bail until their appeal. On Feb. 17, 2005, Ramos chased a van loaded with marijuana to a ditch near Fabens, where the van's driver, Osvaldo

Beyond Borders - Special Report on Immigration • Read more articles
• See more video
• Hear more audio
Beyond Borders Blog - Special Report on Immigration
• Share your views
Aldrete-Davila, abandoned his vehicle and ran toward Mexico.

According to court testimony, agent Compean tried to block his path, but Aldrete continued running toward the Rio Grande. Compean and Ramos then shot at Aldrete and a bullet from Ramos' gun hit the smuggler in the buttocks. Though wounded, Aldrete made it to Mexico. The agents did not report the shooting and Compean picked up his shell casings. The agents, who will be officially fired now that they have been sentenced, said in court that they thought Aldrete had a gun. They were convicted of various charges, including violating the smuggler's civil rights and tampering with evidence. The case has become a cause celebre among conservatives, especially in California. After the sentencing Thursday, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton praised prosecutors for their work on an unpopular case. Sutton said that the Border Patrol badge is not "a license to shoot people, especially unarmed suspects who are running away from you, lie to your superior and write a false report."

Sutton took to task radio talk shows and cable news shows for presenting only one side of the story. He also questioned the agents' claim that they thought the smuggler had a gun. "The evidence reflects something completely different," he said. "The agents did not take cover and did not tell other agents to Get down. Someone has a gun.' "

Sutton said that he felt no sympathy for Aldrete, whom he called a "piece of dirt."

Aldrete did not appear in court Thursday but his lawyer, Walter Boyaki, who represents him in a lawsuit against the government, spoke. Boyaki said that his client, a truck driver by trade, was incapacitated from the bullet that shattered his urethra and can not work.

"I was expecting at least one of them (the agents) to say, I'm sorry,' " Boyaki said. "I know Aldrete-Davila would say he was sorry, too."

The agents chose not to make statements to the court and presented no witnessed Thursday.

Compean's lawyer, Chris Antcliff, blamed Aldrete, saying, "Had he stopped like any normal citizen, we wouldn't be here today - This case is a little bit upside down in my mind."

He called his client, "A good man in a really bad situation."

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone said she took into account the risk to the agents in prison and the conduct of the victim when deciding on lenient sentences on most charges but that she could not reduce the 10-year mandatory, consecutive sentence mandated by federal law when a gun is discharged in the commission of a crime.

The agents were not ordered to make restitution to Aldrete. Outside the courthouse, family members and friends of the agents who couldn't fit inside the small courtroom waited three hours to hear the sentence.

Family members said the fight was not over.

"It's going to be step by step," said Ramos' brother Hector Ramos. "The first step is going to get him home. It's a process."

Also Thursday, Judge Cardone denied the defense's motion for a new trial on the basis that three jurors said they were misled by the jury foreman and voted guilty because they thought they were not allowed to have a hung jury. '