Transcripts of Trial - Border Agents Compean and Ramos

DOJ - U.S. Attorney's Office (Johnny Sutton) ^ | February 13, 2007

[calcowgirl]

The complete (I think) transcript was filed with the Court on Friday and entered in the Court record yesterday. The DOJ is hosting the transcripts on their website in a series of 18 PDF Files. They range in size from 5 pages to over 300 pages, covering pretrial matters, sentencing, as well as testimony.

The transcripts are linked at the site above, as well as most of the press releases issued by the U.S. Attorney office on this matter.

I am setting up this thread (in chat) as a place for us junkies can comment on the testimony and to post any revelations anyone might find. Have at it!!!!

VOLUME I: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%201.pdf

VOLUME II: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%202.pdf

VOLUME III: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%203.pdf

VOLUME IV: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%204.pdf

VOLUME V: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%205.pdf

VOLUME VI: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%206.pdf

VOLUME VII: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%207.pdf

VOLUME VIII: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%208.pdf

VOLUME IX: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%209.pdf

VOLUME X: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2010.pdf

VOLUME XI: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2011.pdf

VOLUME XII: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2012.pdf

VOLUME XIII: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2013.pdf

VOLUME XIV: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2014.pdf

VOLUME XV: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2015.pdf

VOLUME XVI: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2016.pdf

VOLUME XVII: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2017.pdf

VOLUME XVIII: http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2018.pdf
.

[calcowgirl]

Ping!

[raybbr]

Thanks for your hard work. I can't spend too much time on these threads. My blood boils and when the quislings show up I wish I could find out who they really are and reveal them for the traitors they are.

[CindyDawg]

book mark

[woofie]

On page 37 in Volume V, third paragraph,it says, and I quote:"Its Bush's fault"

[truthkeeper]

Thanks for all your hard work on this one.

[Cyropaedia]

Good work calcowgirl!

[Ladycalif]

PING

[stephenjohnbanker]

Thanks, Lady : )

Good work, it is appreciated.

[FLOutdoorsman]

Thanks.

Here is a article talking about some of the transcripts.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1784417/posts

[stephenjohnbanker]

I know how you feel. Best to ignore the fools.

[truthkeeper]

I just read up to page 10 on the first one and have to take a break for a while. My God, these people are wordy, aren't they?

[calcowgirl]

Thanks to everyone for the thanks.

Here's a tip to folks wanted to scan a few files.

The testimony appears to start in file 6, but on most of the big files if you scan to the 2nd to last page, there is an index. Here are some starting points, in general:

file 1 Pretrial Matters
file 2 Pretrial Matters
file 3 Pretrial Matters
file 4 Status Conference
file 5 Pretrial Matters
file 6 Opening Statements at page pg. 183
file 6 Witness Rene Sanchez at pg. 225
file 6 Witness Christopher Sanchez at pg. 263
file 7 Witness Christopher Sanchez at pg. 3
file 7 Witness/Smuggler Aldrete-Davila at pg. 68
file 8 Witness/Smuggler Aldrete-Davila at pg. 17

I'm just trying to get a feel of the content before reading any of it.

[calcowgirl]

I got a copy of Juarez's testimony yesterday and reading it is painful, lol.

I scanned another one where the Prosecutor slipped and kept referring to Aldrete-Davila as the Defendant (as it should have been!)

[Cyropaedia]

Kanof actually wants us to believe that Compean and Ramos saw Aldrete-Davila on the ground, bleeding, unable to escape and they simply holstered their weapons, turned around and just left him there....??? That makes absolutely no sense at all. That's just pure make believe.

[calcowgirl]

Other Kanof themes said to be popular and repetitive:

• "shot in the back"
• "just wanted to go home"
• .... etc.

I haven't had a chance to delve in too deeply. I'm on information overload! lol

[Kenny Bunk]

Time for these fellows to have some real lawyering. That takes some real money. Has their union set up a fund for them yet?

We need to back these apellants up, and start holding their attorneys payable and accountable.

[Kenny Bunk]

http://www.nbpc.net/ That's the union's website. Check it out and the funding mechanisms they have set up.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Thanks ccg..I've been slowly wading through Agent Sanchez testimony. His testimony really bothers me. So many things he didn't tape or record and remembers from "memory" and then says conflicts with written statements.

It bothers me that they walked the "vega" and didn't find bullets or blood and yet he was convinced the magic bullet came from Compeans service weapon. The parts (so far) that bothers me even more is the following exchange under cross on page 65 +

BY MS. STILLINGER:
4 Q. You told me, when we talked last week -- and I'm talking
5 about talking in court, when I was questioning you last week.
6 You told me that you just found out about the $5 million claim
7 that Mr. Aldrete-Davila filed. I think you said you found out
8 sometime around May or June. Is that right?
9 A. I believe it was May.
10 Q. Okay. Did you know that Rene Sanchez had advised
11 Mr. Aldrete-Davila about that?
12 A. No, ma'am, I did not.
13 Q. Okay. Did you know that Rene Sanchez had talked to
14 Aldrete-Davila about immunity?
15 A. No, ma'am, I did not.
16 Q. Okay. And did you know that he found him a lawyer?
17 A. No, ma'am, I did not.
18 Q. Did you just find that out for the first time when
19 Aldrete-Davila testified last week?
20 A. Yes, ma'am.
21 Q. Okay. That's something that would have been
interesting
22 for you to know in your investigation, wouldn't it?
23 MS. KANOF: Objection, Your Honor, argumentative.

[calcowgirl]

It bothers me that they walked the "vega" and didn't find bullets or blood and yet he was convinced the magic bullet came from Compeans service weapon.

You know, your post here, and the thread on the Mexican consulate, just came together for me.

In the DHS-OIG Report of Investigation (ROI) it makes mention of the day that agents went to the site to look for bullets, including use of metal detectors. What didn't make sense was participation of one of the agencies involved, specifically the DSS:

On March 17, 2005, DHS OIG agents, OIA agents, BP El. Paso Sector Evidence Team (SET) members and U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents, scoured the site of the shooting incident, using metal detectors to look for casings and any other detectable evidence, but no evidence of the shooting was found. Check out who DSS is here

[calcowgirl]

As to that specific part of the testimony.... GRRRRRRR.....

I really want to read Rene Sanchez's full testimony.

[Arizona Carolyn]

They are linked to the State Department? Why would someone from DSS be out walking a vega looking for spent bullet casings from two border patrol agents who allegedly shot at a drug smuggler?

[Arizona Carolyn]

I haven't gone there yet, this testimony made my blood boil. How can they take verbals as binding if they don't record the verbal before the agent is required to give his written report? Seems to me any so-called discrepancies would be hear-say without a legal record of what was said in the verbal and not admissable.

[calcowgirl]

Mexico was concerned would be my guess. Which would tie in with that other thread.
They certainly don't need highly trained DSS agents to be working metal detectors.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Which still begs the question why would department of state be involved unless it was to keep Mexican government happy. If so, it sucks even more than before (to be blunt).

[Dat Mon]

PING FOR REFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS

Great work!

[calcowgirl]

San Isidro was included in R.Sanchez's testimony:

11 Q. Before going to high school here in El Paso, where did you
12 live?
13 A. In San Isidro, Chihuahua, Mexico.
14 Q. Okay. San Isidro, Mexico. Is that sort of on the
15 outskirts of Juarez, across the river?
16 A. Yes, ma'am.
17 Q. From the rural part of the county, El Paso County?
18 A. Yes.

[calcowgirl]

Thank ya!

[Brad's Gramma]

Wow! Thanks, calcowgirl!!!

Bump for exposure, and for me to read!

[Arizona Carolyn]

I think I will read the Rene Sanchez testimony next. Sounds to me like Davila was coached by both Sanchez'

[calcowgirl]

You're welcome!

If you or anyone wants to be added to my ping list, just freepmail me.
I've been trying to ping every article posted on Ramos and Compean.

I hope that this thread will continue on as folks read through the details.

[Brad's Gramma]

BTTT!!

[calcowgirl]

I started reading R.Sanchez. "Evade apprehension" rings out like a memorized line. I just hit this one:

A. I was the chamberlain for Osvaldo's sister's quinceanera.

[Arizona Carolyn]

Now the transcripts are out... this doesn't pass the smell test. If they had changed the venue I suspect they would not have been convicted.

[Dat Mon]

you said..."Seems to me any so-called discrepancies would be hear-say without a legal record of what was said in the verbal and not admissible."

The way I would look at these transcripts is to see what evidence was admitted...what exculpatory evidence was excluded..and what 'evidence' rests on hearsay testimony....particularly evidence provided by the smuggler which is not corroborated..or corroborated by witnesses which have also changed their testimony in other places, thus making their credibility suspect...or evidence provided by those who had a prior association with the smuggler.

Did Suttons office prove "beyond a reasonable doubt" that Ramos and Compean actually intentionally and deliberately committed a Crime of Violence....based on what physical evidence...EXACTLY.

From the beginning of this case...Ive been wondering about the ability of the BP lawyers to mount an adequate defense...either due to their own incompetence...or due to an unspoken silent partnership between the judge and the prosecutor in what evidence was admitted, and how the trial was conducted.

I seem to recall that the background of this judge is in Family Law...this means Divorce court. Here, the judges rule as monarchs. I have a friend who has been going through this process for quite a while with his ex...the stories of how the Family Court system actually works with renegade judges are interesting.

This judge, being a Bush political appointee, may (consciously or subconsciously)...have been overwhelmed by the case and simply deferred to the US Attny politically connected to the man who nominated her to her position.

Im bothered by the fact that, according to the DHS report section I read, Compean first waives his Miranda rights, states in interrogation that he saw what he believed to be a gun...then later RECANTS (THEIR WORDS) and admits that it may have not been a gun..implicating himself and Ramos in the shooting.

The report slyly implies that Compean pleads guilty you see...without actually pleading guilty...but of course later admitting guilt...he also refuses a plea bargain deal!!

How incompetent would his attorney have to be to allow this???

Or...is the DHS report biased.....and deceptive..hmmmmm....whats that mean?

Reading some of these threads...I see where the spinmeisters try to spin this as a battle between the crazed PRO PARDON folks and the sensible, fair minded PRO LAW N ORDER folks.

Its crap...this is all about DUE PROCESS UNDER THE LAW.

Did these guys receive it..or were they railroaded.

Did Sutton's office prove MOTIVE, INTENT, and have the FORENSIC evidence to make a solid case...and of course...did they apply the USC statute calling for mandatory 10 year sentences for Crimes of Violence where a gun was used in the commission of the crime....APPROPRIATLY, AS CONGRESS AND PRECEDENT dictates..

[calcowgirl]

Great post, DatMon. I'm not a lawyer, so your analysis helps me in reading through this stuff. I usually just ask "Does that make Sense?" In this case, nothing makes sense and it gets crazier every day, hence my interest/obsession with the case.

As to Cardone, you are correct. She was in family law.

As to Compean, I was amazed that he waived his miranda rights that night. All I can think is he was half asleep as the agents arrested him at midnight on a Friday. But his actual statement was even more forceful than you portrayed. He said "He was pointing something shiny with his left hand. It looked like a gun. This is when I started shooting." That he later he acknowledged he was not certain it was a gun, is a far cry from recanting. When I saw the OIG use that word, I hit the roof. IMO, the entire DHS-OIG report is deceptive--and that is a kind description.

I intend to read through a bunch of these and I hope a lot of other people do also. Hopefully, the thread will provide some useful input. If nothing else, it is a place to vent, lol.

[Dat Mon]

Hey....disclaimer...Im just an engineer, not an attorney.

I just watch some Law n Order shows every now n then... ;0)

[calcowgirl]

Thanks for the disclaimer, lol.
Sorry about that.

[omnivore]

Thanks much for posting the links.

I agree, it's unbelievable that the government interviews witnesses and defendants without videotaping or even audio recording them. And then they expect us to believe that what the interogator wrote down is what the person said, or even vaguely similar. At this point, I don't believe anything that comes out of a government person's face. Show me the video. If you don't have it on video, when you reasonably could have, the only reason for the lack of the video is that you wanted to be able to lie. End of story.

And by the way, how many billion dollars could the government save, simply by requiring all fed agencies to use single-space and a proportional font on documents? You know the DOJ lawyers print these things out. Double spacing and courier font are insane.

[investigateworld]

" Family law ...this means Divorce court. Here, the judges rule as monarchs."

Ahhhsoooo!

'splains very well why the USAA in the first transcript is telling the judge one of the BCP guys has been arrested for 'domestic violence'.

The Judge is too stupid to realize she is being played like a drum.

[angelsonmyside]

BTTT

[shezza]

My God, these people are wordy, aren't they?

Obfuscation. It's the name of the game.

[Leatherneck_MT]

Thanks for the post!

[FOXFANVOX]

Thanx for all this info, calcowgirl. I started at the beginning and have switched tactics. Now I am starting from the end and working backwards. What strikes me is how sharp [in the most snarky way] Aldrete-Davila's lawyer appears and how out of her depth Ramos' lawyer appears.

I noted that prejudicial evidence of Ramos' allegedly "violent" behavior, none of which he was convicted of, was allowed but evidence of Davila's additional smuggling appears to not have been allowed.

Worse, if I read correctly, Compean was accused of a "false" report for every shot he fired, not for the entirety of the shoot. Stacking the deck...you think!

Again, thanks for the transcript, even tho you have destroyed my free time for days to come. 8)

[FOXFANVOX]

"I just watch some Law n Order shows every now n then..." ;0)

Puts you way ahead of most people and some lawyers. IMHO

[calcowgirl]

Well, that's an interesting tactic! I kind of started in the middle, lol.

I heard on KFI radio in Los Angeles (news break during Rush Limbaugh) that certain pages of testimony from Chris Sanchez and from Agent Blanchette (?) were not included in this transcript release. At least, that's what I though I heard. I haven't seen it in news print.

[DumpsterDiver]

I heard on KFI radio in Los Angeles (news break during Rush Limbaugh) that certain pages of testimony from Chris Sanchez and from Agent Blanchette (?) were not included in this transcript release. At least, that's what I though I heard.

I heard that same news reported yesterday on either KFI or KABC radio news.

I haven't seen it in news print.

Me either.

[ContemptofCourt]

I haven't read the whole thing, but I did read the agents' testimony as well as that of Ramos and Compean. It seems pretty clear why these guys got convicted. For starters, Ramos and Compean got skewered on cross. Their testimony is contradictory and it looks like they are lying. Ramos, in particular, did not testify well at all.

In addition, for the jury to believe Ramos and Compean, they have to believe that every other agent was lying.

[calcowgirl]

In volume 14, the pages below (as listed in the index at the end of Vol 14)
are not included in the transcript. Page 3 simply says
"SEALED HEARING OMITTED BY COURT ORDER."

4  DEFENDANT RAMOS PROFFER OF EVIDENCE
5  WITNESSES:
6  CHRISTOPHER SANCHEZ:
7  Direct Examination by Ms. Stillinger ................. 4
   Cross-Examination by Ms. Kanof ....................... 9
8  Redirect Examination by Ms. Stillinger ............... 12
9  NOLAN BLANCHETTE:
10 Direct Examination by Ms. Stillinger ................. 15
   Cross-Examination by Mr. Antcliff .................... 28
11 Cross-Examination by Ms. Kanof ....................... 28
   Redirect Examination by Ms. Stillinger ............... 31
12 Recross-Examination by Mr. Antcliff .................. 33
   Recross-Examination by Ms. Kanof ..................... 33

[Cyropaedia]

Rep. Walter Jones has been all over this case. He said it creates the worst sort of precedent for law enforcement. The statute that Sutton used prosecute them should only be used against LEO's that use firearms while in the act of committing actual criminal offenses (sexual assault or drug smuggling). Sutton basically prosecuted them for simply using their guns against drug smuggler.

The jury obviously found them not guilty of trying murder Aldrete-Davila. But Sutton needed that bogus charge to "piggyback" 18 U.S.C. Section 924(c).