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LEAD-IN BY HOST: Opening arguments were heard today in the criminal civil rights trial of three INS agents accused of using excessive force in the detention of Mexican national Serafin Olvera. Shannon Young has more. STORY: On the morning of March 25, 2001, INS agents raided a house in Bryan, Texas where several Mexican construction workers were living. One of these immigrant workers - Serafin Olvera - was allegedly handcuffed and beaten. Hours later, when he was taken to a hospital, doctors discovered that Olvera had in fact suffered a broken neck and was effectively paralyzed from the neck down. Eyewitnesses say that when Olvera was lifted to his feet to be put into the INS vehicle, he dropped to the floor. After repeated attempts to make him stand up and allowing him to fall, the agents put him into their vehicle. At this time, witnesses say that deportation officer Richard Gonzalez, proceeded to pepper spray the newly-quadriplegic Sarafin Olvera directly in the face as he was handcuffed and screaming. Several hours passed before he was taken to the first hospital, located 100 miles away from the scene of raid. The INS agents however, did have time to process and deport all of the other Mexican nationals detained in the Bryan house who had witnessed what happened to Olvera. The fact that the witnesses were deported before Olvera received proper medical attention is one of the central arguments of the prosecution's case. However, the prosecution will not be permitted to link Olvera's subsequent death with the injuries that he sustained during his arrest, even though the Harris County Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide resulting from spinal trauma. Longtime Immigrant right's activist Maria Jimenez explains: "We need to understand the arguments on both sides and how they're being phrased. The only thing that I have seen in the complaint of the government is that they're accusing these officers of unreasonable use of force. The question is, at what point is this unreasonable force used. And I think that's what's going to be at issue, in the particular case. What the judge did point out again and again is that in a sense, the indictment as framed by the U.S. attorneys did not mention the death and therefore as we understand it, that was kind of the hole where the lawyer for the INS officers went through, and it was also the hole that the judge could point out to. To me, as I read the indictment, it does say that these officers used unreasonable force. It doesn't say what the consequences of the unreasonable force is." The Olvera family was stunned that Sarafin's death could not be mentioned during the trial. They held a press conference in front of the courthouse just before entering to hear the opening arguments. While there is only one instance in INS history of a conviction of an agent for excessive use of force, the family remains hopeful. Shannon Young, KPFT News, Houston. E-mail Shannon Young at news@kpft.org This story was broadcast on May 14, 2003.