Court eases sentence for DEA agent's killer

BOGOTA, Colombia - A court this week slashed from 30 years to five the sentence of a Colombian man who admitted fatally shooting a U.S. drug agent in a Bogota discotheque.

Jorge Figueroa, 25, already has served 19 months for the November 1998 killings of the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) worker and another man.

Overturning a lower court, the Superior Court of Bogota ruled that Figueroa acted in self-defense when he pulled out a 9-mm pistol and shot Frank Moreno, a 37-year-old DEA agent, after a scuffle. But Figueroa used excessive force, the court found.

Figueroa, son of a wealthy Bogota family that owns a chain of leather stores, admitted to shooting Moreno in the nightclub. A 20-year-old bystander also died.

There was no immediate comment from the DEA, which contends the incident had nothing to do with Moreno's job duties.

Moreno, of Edinburgh, Texas, had been in Colombia about a year.

In a related development, President Andres Pastrana named a new national police chief yesterday, a day after legendary Gen. Rosso Jose Serrano announced his retirement.

Gen. Luis Ernesto Gilibert, 57, Serrano's respected deputy, will replace Serrano, whose retirement comes as Pastrana is trying to persuade the U.S. Congress to pass a $1.7 billion anti-narcotics aid package for the South American country.