Boy to be sentenced in Border Patrol agent's death

[The Northerner]

Source: Associated Press

SAN DIEGO – A 17-year-old Mexican faces a maximum penalty of life in prison when he is sentenced for killing a Border Patrol agent who was shot eight times in the head, neck and torso in a remote mountainous area.

Christian Daniel Castro Alvarez pleaded guilty in November to murdering a federal officer near Campo, about 60 miles east of San Diego. He told authorities that he and others were attempting to rob the agent, Robert Rosas.

Prosecutors have recommended that U.S. District Judge M. James Lorenz commit Castro to 40 years in prison on Thursday, while a probation officer has urged a life sentence. Federal guidelines call for a minimum sentence of 30 years.

Rosas, 30, was the first Border Patrol agent to be killed by gunfire since 1998, according to The Officer Down Memorial Page, a website that tracks death of law enforcement officers.

Rosas was shot repeatedly from behind and then while he was lying on the ground, according to prosecutors.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100429/ap_on_re_us/us_border_agent_shot