Assailant Admits Manslaughter in Shooting of Boy at Border

In a case that has attracted widespread interest in both the United States and Mexico, a 23-year-old construction worker pleaded guilty Wednesday to involuntary manslaughter in connection with the slaying of a 12-year-old Mexican boy who was gunned down last May along the border in San Diego.

Dwight Ray Pannel of Imperial Beach will receive a two-year prison sentence--without possibility of probation--and a fine of up to $10,000 under a plea bargain agreed to by Pannel and the San Diego County district attorney’s office. Sentencing has been scheduled for March 1.

Defense attorneys have long maintained that the boy’s death was the tragic result of a shot misfired during a target-shooting spree. But some activists have charged that the shooting was part of a pattern of abuse against undocumented immigrants in the border area.

Representatives of Dist. Atty. Edwin L. Miller said they are satisfied with the outcome of the controversial, closely watched case, which authorities said was extremely difficult to prove and was complicated by ambiguous evidence--particularly the presence of three possible assailants.

“After five months of investigation, we were able in large measure to solve what in many ways was an unsolvable crime,” said Luis Aragon, the deputy district attorney who headed the investigation. “I feel comfortable with the outcome.”

But Latino activists immediately assailed the agreement as too lenient, noting that Pannel could have received a life sentence under the original murder charge, which will now be reduced to the lesser felony of involuntary manslaughter.

“They’re getting away with murder,” said Roberto Martinez, a longtime activist who heads a pro-immigrant rights coalition based in San Diego. “This poor kid’s life is worth more than that.”

Steven Casey, a spokesman for Miller, derided Martinez’s characterization as “unmitigated crap” and “tiresome nonsense.” There was no evidence of premeditation or malice on Pannel’s part, authorities said, explaining their decision to agree to the lesser charge. Officials said they feared that a jury might acquit Pannel, and there would be no conviction.

Enrique Loaeza, the Mexican consul general in San Diego, said he is satisfied that area authorities did as much as possible to investigate the death, which was widely portrayed in the Mexican press as an example of rising racism against Mexican citizens in the United States.

“This sets an example for people who think they can go around shooting migrants with impunity,” Loaeza said during an impromptu news conference at his San Diego office.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that there was no credible evidence that the shooting was a so-called hate crime, as offenses motivated by racism are known. Instead, officials described the incident as a negligent act that had fatal consequences.

The shooting is one of a number of border-area cases in the past year that have emerged as major irritants in U.S.-Mexico relations, galvanizing critics who maintain that violence against immigrants has gone unpunished, particularly in the San Diego area. San Diego is the major corridor for undocumented immigrants from Mexico bound for the U.S. interior.

Authorities say that Pannel, positioned on a border-area balcony on the afternoon of May 18, fired the rifle shot that killed Emilio Jimenez Bejines, 12, who was more than 400 yards to the south. Pannel was one of three men who fired the high-powered hunting rifle that afternoon, aiming toward a telephone pole and other targets to the south, authorities said.

The undocumented youth was shot in the head as he, two siblings and an uncle were making their way on foot through a rugged border canyon in San Diego. They hoped to hook up with a smuggler and find a ride to his parents’ home in the Orange County community of Stanton.

Pannel had no intention of killing the youth, according to Alex Loebig, the deputy county public defender who represented the defendant. He acknowledged that his client had been negligent in firing the weapon illegally.

Pannel admitted to having been drinking on the day of the shooting, the defense attorney said. The defendant does not acknowledge that he fired the fatal shot, the attorney said.

Under the plea arrangement, prosecutors agreed to drop the murder charge along with several other charges--an unrelated count of vehicle theft and various charges against Pannel stemming from several border-area robberies and an alleged assault directed at undocumented immigrants who were victimized for “beer money,” according to court papers.

Pannel, who has been in County Jail for six weeks, was the second defendant arrested in the case. Charges against another suspect have been dropped.