Free medical/bullet removal,free lifetime border/smuggling pass, just lie on the witness stand for the "AGENDA" Pretty comprehensive!
Posted on 07/19/2007 6:57:19 AM PDT by Cat loving Texan
Men were convicted for shooting suspected drug dealer Click-2-Listen
By Eunice Moscoso, Ken Herman WASHINGTON BUREAU Thursday, July 19, 2007
WASHINGTON — Two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee urged President Bush on Wednesday to commute the prison sentences of a pair of former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting an unarmed man and trying to cover it up.
Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said in a letter to the White House that the case involved "prosecutorial overreaching."
"We urge you to commute their prison sentences immediately," they wrote.
The agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, are serving 12 and 11 years in prison, respectively, for wounding a suspected drug dealer after he entered the United States illegally in a van with more than 700 pounds of marijuana. The suspect, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, was given immunity to testify against the officers.
Cornyn said in a statement the case "cries out for a commutation that is fair and just."
"It is incomprehensible to me that an illegal alien drug smuggler was allowed to violate his immunity agreement . . . and be granted a series of unlimited visas to roam free in our country while two Border Patrol agents were given excessive prison sentences," he said.
Cornyn said Aldrete violated his immunity agreement in several ways, including not being completely truthful with investigators and refusing to tell them the names of his associates, including his drug source.
At a Senate hearing about the case Tuesday, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, Johnny Sutton, disputed that Aldrete had violated the agreement, saying prosecutors were satisfied with his cooperation.
Sutton also strongly defended the prosecution of the agents, saying they were "not heroes" and "deliberately shot an unarmed man in the back."
The case has become a cause célèbre among conservatives and groups that advocate tougher border controls. Supporters say the agents were wrongly convicted for protecting the United States against an illegal immigrant and criminal.
At the White House, spokesman Tony Snow would not elaborate on the possibility of a commutation for the agents.
"We have made it a practice not to talk about any such deliberations, whether they are ongoing or not, and I'm not going to break that rule in this case," he said.
Snow also noted that the prison terms fell within sentencing guidelines approved by Congress.
"When you have a judge that's obeying federal sentencing guidelines, that's what they're supposed to do," he said.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a leading foe of illegal immigration who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, said Wednesday that he would offer an amendment to an upcoming spending bill that would prevent the Bush administration from using federal money to enforce the agents' sentences.
"This wouldn't be the first time Congress has stepped in and used its authority under the Constitution to overturn a brainless decision by a federal court," he said in a written statement.
It was Hunter’s testimony that convinced them!
This not bizarro world post. Hello.
=o <-— that was my mouth when I saw this.
No. It was the immigration fiasco. How this has become an Immigration is beyond me.
Hunter and Rohrbacher have been bulldogging this since day one. And recruiting Feinstein to their side. There is a reason both were called to testify. Feinstein is in favor of the immigration bill, it has little to do with that.
This is all politics.
JUST DO IT
I think this is the first time I have agreed with one of my two U.S. Senators (Feinstein). Boxer is hopeless.
Feinstein doing something right for once. I can’t believe it.
For Feinstein, perhaps. Though she seemed less than pleased with Johnny Sutton. Wait until the House has Sutton testifying in front of Rohrbacher and Hunter. For these two guys it ain’t politics, this runs in their DNA.
Unfortunately the RATS will be the ones getting the credit if W commutes their sentence. W dragged his feet and now the RATS will be highly favored by the (legal voting block)Hispanic community. Cornyn and Feinstein are no fools, saw the opportunity and grabbed it!! The pubs lost a golden opportunity....IDIOTS!!
All these guys had to do was to tell the truth and not to lie about and none of this would have happened.
Cornyn is a GOPer.
Notice Hunter’s testimony did not say that the BP agents did no wrong. Nobody is saying they are completely guilt free. But its a nonsensical prosecution. Violating his c=ivil rights, using a gun in a commision of a violent crime (the reason the sentence was 10 years min). Utter bullshit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQkO2e1LUxw
Duncan Hunter Defends Border Patrol Agents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQkO2e1LUxw
Duncan Hunter Defends Border Patrol Agents
For immediate release:
July 17, 2007
Hunter testifies for border patrol agents
California Congressman seeks full pardon for Ramos and Compean
(Washington, D. C.).....United States Congressman Duncan Hunter took his fight
to the nation’s capitol today (July 17) to convince President Bush to pardon
two border patrol agents he feels were unjustly imprisoned.
Hunter appeared before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism
Technology and Homeland Security.
The California Congressman testified that he strongly supports a Presidential
pardon of former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean because, “there
is absolutely no justification for such unfair and excessive prison
sentences.”
The incident dates back to February 2005, when the agents tried to stop a van
driven by alleged drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila near the Mexico border.
According to court documents, a scuffle ensued between agent Compean and
suspect Aldrete-Davila. The suspect broke loose and fled on foot.
Agent Ramos says he believes that he saw a gun, a fact contradicted by the
suspect. Both agents reportedly fired at Aldrete-Davila, who fell, then
continued his escape across the border.
Later, Ramos and Compean filed their official report listing the 743-pounds of
marijuana they found in the van, but failed to mention the gunfire.
A Homeland Security agent apparently heard about the episode and traveled to
Mexico. According to court documents, the Homeland Security agent offered
Aldrete-Davila immunity, if he would testify against Ramos and Compean.
In his testimony today, Hunter took offense to that arrangement. “The U.S.
government sadly decided to side with the drug dealer and prosecute agents
Compean and Ramos for simply fulfilling their duties as border patrolmen.
The drug smuggler walked away from the incident with only a wound in his
rear-end, and the opportunity to attempt another drug run.”
Hunter continued, “The men and women of the border patrol are certainly not
above the laws they are empowered to enforce, but, they must also know that
when they apply the necessary and appropriate level of force, their government
will not work aggressively to ensure they are punished while lawlessness is
rewarded.”
U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, a Bush appointee, prosecuted the agents.
In March, a jury found them guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon discharge
of a firearm during a violent crime, obstructing justice lying about the
incident, and willfully violating Aldrete-Davila’s Fourth Amendment right to be
free from illegal seizure.
Because there was gunfire, the mandatory-minimum prison sentence the agents
will serve is 10 years. The U.S. Probation Office in El Paso, Texas had
recommended 20 years for each of the two agents. Hunter reemphasized his belief
that, “there is absolutely no justification for such unfair and excessive
prison sentences.”
Hunter’s congressional district is in southern California near the border with
Mexico. He told the members of the subcommittee, “I represent the border
communities, and have for more than 26-years. I have worked with the fine men
and women of the U.S. Border Patrol to ensure they receive the support and
resources they need to address the constant intrusion of drug and human
smugglers across our borders. It troubles me to think that questionable
testimony by a drug smuggler, who was granted immunity and free medical care
for his cooperation, was put before the two border patrol agents who willingly
accepted this inherently dangerous responsibility.”
Hunter noted, “The very day they surrendered to federal custody, I recommended
that agents Compean and Ramos be segregated and was assured they would be
removed from the general population and close attention was being paid to their
personal safety. The attack against agent Ramos indicates concerns for his
personal safety and protection were ignored.”
On February 6, 2007, Hunter wrote to the President requesting that an
investigation be conducted into the attack against agent Ramos. The letter also
requested that Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin be discharged from his
position should it be ascertained that the proper precautions were not taken.
Hunter concluded his testimony by emphasizing his belief that “Pardoning agents
Compean and Ramos is the only option available to correct this terrible
injustice and, just as importantly, restoring the confidence of the border
patrol and the American people that their nation is serious about enforcing its
immigration and smuggling laws.” Hunter has said when elected president, his
first order of business will be to pardon the agents.
Hunter has led the national campaign for border security and
immigration reform. He has been joined by scores of his fellow members, and
several activist groups. He was the only Republican Presidential Candidate to
attend Tuesday’s hearing.
Observers believe that the subcommittee members sought Hunter’s testimony
because of his long fight for a more secure border, and his legislative
initiatives. Hunter drafted legislation that was signed by the President to
construct over 800 miles of fence on the southern border. Only a few miles of
fencing have been completed. Hunter has charged that the department of Homeland
Security has the money and the mandate, but “the administration has a ‘case of
the slows’ in getting the fence built.” He has pledged that “he will see that
the fence is up within six month after he takes office as President.
Bravo!
Duncan Hunter presented a convincing argument for the pardon of Ramos and Compean. See it on Youtube on another thread today. Since their supervisor was on site at the time of the incident, no report was deemed necessary, according to Laura Ingraham minutes ago. I will once again email the White House to pardon the two Border Patrolmen, going Feinstein and Cornyn one better.
I agree. But there are people here who think that there was some sort of conspiracy with the mexican govt to send these agents up the river.
First, I think the issue is prosecurial discretion as to what these two were actually charged with. If prosecutors thought something was amiss, they had other options to charge them with.
And I think that’s what’s riling people, for one.
Second, the fact that the ‘victim’ was a drug dealer fleeing from his crime was ‘irrelevant’ so in a court of law, he becomes a regular joe just going about his business, innocently shot in the back.
Third, all the special benefits we gave to the criminal victim to get his testimony to convict these guys of the harshest crime they could be charged with.
Fourth, these agents don’t have any history being loose cannons, so what has happened to them is harsh.
I certainly get that Johnny Sutton feels justified and validated, and I do hear what he’s saying. But after all is said and done in this case, the American public does not perceive that JUSTICE has been done. It’s the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law.
The mexican governmetn did indeed lobby for harsh prosecution. Not a conspiracy though.
Well said. And giving the drug dealer unfettered immunity and freedom to come and go unescorted back and forth to mexico is a travesty.
Doubtful or they’d just have been prosecuted for obstruction or something. I don’t see why they were prosecuted at all. Bush should have pardoned these guys ages ago.
Still W did drag his feet on this one!
Yes, he still might though.
I watched the reruns of this hearing until 1 am this morning. Diane said at one point later on, “I agree with MR. HUNTER!”
Here’s some more on all this from Mike Cutler.
Hi Gang:
The article I have attached below documents a Senate hearing that was held to examine the prosecution and sentencing of two Border Patrol agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. I have written a number of commentaries about this outrageous case and wanted to take this opportunity to once again weigh in on this extraordinary miscarriage of justice.
The facts of the case do not warrant the prosecution of the agents in the first place. They were simply on duty, patrolling our nation’s extremely dangerous border with Mexico when they confronted a drug smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila. That the smuggler had in his possession hundreds of pounds of marijuana worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, makes it extremely unlikely that he was unarmed at the time he was encountered by Agents Ramos and Compean. Although I worked for the former INS for 30 years, I spent roughly half of my career working in conjunction with other agencies such as the DEA, FBI, ATF and police agencies including the NYPD and New York State Police conducting investigations of narcotics trafficking organizations that were employing aliens in the United States. In New York that was the situation with the great majority of the drug trafficking organizations that came under our scrutiny. Based on my experience I would be more than a little surprised if
In my personal experience, virtually every time a member of a drug organization was shepherding a load of drugs or large sums of cash to purchase drugs, he was armed. Drug-related crimes are notorious for the proclivity for extreme violence. Violence is used to intimidate the opposition and to intimidate would be informants. Violence is also used to make certain that when a deal is made, all parties involved will live up to their part of the deal.
Nearly 20 years ago close friend of mine, Everett Hatcher, a DEA special agent was killed during the course of an undercover operation involving members of organized crime. Other law enforcement officers with whom I had the distinct privilege of working also lost their lives in the performance of their official duties, attempting to take drugs, guns and violent criminals off of the streets of my city and other cities around the United States. Aldrete-Davila .
There is a phenomenon known as the “fog of battle” that often impacts the decisions that soldiers in combat make. Law enforcement officers are subject to this phenomenon as well. On the day of the incident involving Ramos and Compean, according to a number of reports and accounts I have read in various newspapers and other open sources, these two valiant agents had but a split second to make a life or death decision and their lives hung in the balance. As an INS special agent I was required to qualify with my service pistol every 90 days. A significant part of the training requires that the agents are able to rapidly identify a target, simulating an armed criminal, and fire within a matter of a second or two. According to the accounts of the shooting I have read, the smuggler had twisted towards them after an altercation and it appeared that he had a metallic object in his hand. After the shots were fired by the agents, Aldrete-Davila fled across the border, apparently convincing both Ramos and Compean that they had not struck him with their bullets. From what I have been led to believe, the quick arrival of other agents at the scene of the incident made it extremely unlikely that their supervisors did not know about the shooting. According to several accounts of the shooting incident, the Border Patrol policy is that the front line Border Patrol agents need not file any paperwork if they discharge their weapons and on one is struck and no apparent damage is done. It would appear that in good faith, Ramos and Compean believed that this was the situation. The smuggler fled across the border and their was no evidence that he had been wounded.
The very worse offense that they might have committed would appear to have been a failure to make an official verbal report of the discharge of their weapons. The punishment for such an infraction is a suspension, not even firing. Certainly criminal prosecution would not be an issue in such a case. The destruction of evidence discussed by the prosecutor was the fact that the agents “policed their brass.” That is the term we use to describe picking up the spent cartridges (brass) that are ejected from the pistol when the gun is fired. This is done to make certain that you do not inadvertently cut your knee if you wind up having to crouch down as you continue to fire your weapon in a combat situation. This action is part of the training program. In a high-stress situation, people tend to fall back on their training. This goes for agents, pilots and others in high-stress professions. While I certainly can not speak for either of these two agents, I would not be surprised if they were simply falling back on their training at that moment of stress.
The draconian sentences that were given to these two federal agents were justified by the fact that they committed crimes that involved firearms. This is outrageous! That law was intended to hammer criminals who commit crimes, such as drug trafficking and are armed at the time of the commission of the crime. In such cases the criminals generally are carrying illegal guns These agents were carrying their service weapons. That means that the guns that they carried were either personally owned but registered with the Border Patrol or that these weapons may well have been owned by the federal government and assigned to those agents. They were not only permitted to carry those weapons, they were absolutely required to carry those weapons when on duty and, indeed, they were on duty at the time of the incident!
Let me make this perfectly clear. I have no use for any law enforcement officer who abuses his(her authority. I carried an INS badge for three decades and always felt that that badge created a burden of accountability and responsibility firmly on my shoulders that went with the authority that the bade represented. In this case it is my judgement that these agents were singled out for extreme mistreatment at the hands of the government that employed them. This is not acceptable! Law enforcement officers are paid to go in harm’s way in our behalf. They are paid to have confrontations and lay their lives on the line to make our nation safer and more secure. In turn these law enforcement officers should have the absolute right to expect that the government will stand behind them. For our government to cut an incredible deal with a drug trafficker and take his word over two valiant Border Patrol agents to then prosecute these agents is an absolute vile act that needs immediate remedy! A Congressional pardon such as that which has been proposed by Congressman Duncan Hunter would do just fine!
The President has stated that our borders are under control because arrest rates have dropped significantly. I do not doubt that arrests are down. I do not believe that this is because illegal aliens are no longer running our nation’s borders but rather because our nation’s Border Patrol agents are intimidated by the government that employs them. I have made this point innumerable times and will make it again. When the President states that our nation has attempted to have an enforcement only program ant that this approach does not work, thereby justifying his wrong-headed Guest Worker Amnesty Program that would undercut American workers and compromise national security at the same time, I have said that all that our government has provided us is an illusion of enforcement and that the illusion has failed to secure our borders. It have to believe that the arrest and prosecution of Ramos and Compean have caused a reduction of arrests along the Mexican border, thereby creating yet another illusion, the illusion that our borders are coming under control.
It is clear that more illegal aliens than ever before are now in the United States. There are two indicators worth considering. Last year the amount of money wired to Latin America and the Caribbean soared from the 30 billion dollars wired to those regions three years ago to 45 billion last year. Much of that money is believed to have been wired home by illegal aliens in the United States. The second indicator is the number of fugitive aliens or “absconders.” According to reports I have read, the number of such aliens stood at a little more than 300,000 in September, 2001. The most recent statistics pegs the number at more than 600,000 or nearly double the number of such aliens who either fail to show up for immigration hearings or fail to surrender for deportation subsequent to having been order deported from the United States.
A final thought. I am extremely pleased that members of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives from both political parties are now taking up this issue. However, I have to wonder at what took them so long. Of course Representative Dana Rohrbacher has long championed these agents’ cause but I have to wonder if other members of Congress have not gained interest in this case because of the clear message that We the People sent the Senate a couple of weeks ago when the Senate took up the bill to create “Comprehensive Immigration Reform” that I called the “Terrorist Assistance and Facilitation Act of 2007.”
There was a cell phone commercial that ran not long ago, that featured a guy talking on his cell phone, showing up in all sorts of locations asking, “Can you hear me now?” Apparently there are members of the Senate and the House of Representatives who are beginning to hear us (We the People) now! We need to condition them to expect to hear from all of us regularly and routinely to make certain that they do, indeed, represent us!
Democracy is not a spectator sport!
Lead, follow or get out of the way!
-michael cutler-
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070718/NATION/107180075/1001
Good Stuff, auntb. Very compelling.
Mike Cutler is the best. He’s been so accessable to all of us and always responds. He’s there testifying all the time, and on TV and NEVER advances himself, a book, etc.
Mike, great job!
You still beating this sad drum on this issue. It isn’t about Law and Order! It is about prosecutorial malfeasance by Sutton with backing from the Bush Administration. It is also about believing the testimony of a drug dealer and nobody bothered to see if the bullet that “supposedly” hit Aldrete Davila came from our border agents gun. Why you hitch your wagon to a drug dealer I will never know. Good luck on your island of thought.
>>>Lead, follow or get out of the way!
Amen!
These agents should have NEVER been charged under the law of gun use “while committing a crime’. Sutton knows it, everyone knows the law was missapplied here. It’s as big a perversion as using the 14th amend for jackpot babies. Sutton admitted that the agents were given a plea deal before they were charged with the min. sentence law and that the jury NEVER was told it would be a 10 year sentence.
I hope this case comes back to bite Sutton.
As I said, I wouldn’t have a problem with commutation. I don’t know why people are still giving me a hard time on this.
All of this heartache and headache could have been avoided if these guys had been truthful in the beginning.
They have no one but themselves to blame.
US National Guardsmen indicted in immigrant smuggling operation The Associated Press Published: July 4, 2007 LAREDO, Texas: Three U.S. National Guard soldiers accused of running an immigrant smuggling operation have been indicted on five counts of human smuggling and one count of conspiracy to transport undocumented immigrants, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Federal authorities say Sgt. Julio Cesar Pacheco, Sgt. Clarence Hodge Jr. and Pfc. Jose Rodrigo Torres used cell phone text messages to coordinate transporting van loads of illegal immigrants through a border-area checkpoint, according to the San Antonio Express-News. Torres, 26, of Laredo, was arrested in early June when a border patrol agent found 24 immigrants in an official van the guardsman was driving, the newspaper said, citing officials. Pacheco, 25, of Laredo, and Hodge, 36, of Fort Worth, were arrested later.... The guardsmen are accused of sneaking the immigrants through a checkpoint they were assigned to as part of Operation Jump Start, a border security initiative.... Tuesday's indictment alleges the defendants made seven successful smuggling trips, transporting 88 undocumented immigrants over 22 days in May and June.You may be asking why would DiFi care about this? It's because the Dimocrat opponent against John Cornyn was running Operation Jump Start in Laredo!
The whole "open borders" policy of this administration is a conspiracy with the Mexican government!
Feinstein is not as bright as a stopped clock. But she may be right twice in a lifetime. On this issue, she is right.
“Wait until the House has Sutton testifying in front of Rohrbacher and Hunter. For these two guys it ain’t politics, this runs in their DNA.”
I CAN’T wait!!!!
Commuting the sentence on the counts to time served that requires the 10 yr minimum maybe a reasonable solution in this situation as it can be argued that Congress messed up when writing the law that requires it. However, I think the remaining sentencing on the other counts should not be commuted and they should serve that time....
Cronyn may have a little sway with the President on this issue.
Prison time portion portion of the sentencing....
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/Volume%2018.pdf .. begins on page 67
Compean Sentence:
...the Court will find that a fair and reasonable sentence in your case, Mr. Compean, is 24 months of incarceration on Counts 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Those will run concurrently. And 120 months on Count 5, to run consecutive thereto.
Ramos Sentence:
...the Court will find that a fair and reasonable sentence in this case is 12 months and one day on Counts 2, 3, 8, 9, and 12, to run concurrently, and 120 months on Count 4, to run consecutive to those Counts 2, 3, 8, 9, and 12.
Wait till you clash with the government sometime, and you know your right. How much of a plea are you willing to accept at that point? I have a hunch, you just might see things in a different light.
Thanks AuntB.
Perfect!
And DiFi agrees with Hunter??!!! Hoo-Rah!! As an aside...DH called Boxer's office this morning and got the poor young rep. answering the phone all discombobulated trying to explain how Boxer's "open to the terrorists" border policy made any sense! Rather amusing.
No Promise on issue of Border Agents
I am so tired of this nonsense.
Free medical/bullet removal,free lifetime border/smuggling pass, just lie on the witness stand for the "AGENDA" Pretty comprehensive!
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