Posted on 07/21/2007 7:28:09 AM PDT by kellynla
Questioned by an audience member at a forum, President Bush said he could not promise to pardon former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.
"I'm not going to make that kind of promise in a forum like this," Bush said at the Nashville event yesterday, which focused on his budget.
Bush referred to the U.S. attorney responsible for the case, Johnny Sutton, as "a dear friend of mine" and called him a "fair guy" and "even-handed," according to a White House transcript.
The president elicited laughter when he told the questioner, "You've got a nice smile, but you can't entice me into making a public statement."
"I know this is an emotional issue, but people need to look at the facts," Bush said. "These men were convicted by a jury of their peers after listening to the facts as my friend, Johnny Sutton, presented them. But anyway, no, I won't make you that promise."
(Story continues below)
Ramos and Compean are serving 11- and 12-year prison sentences, respectively, after a jury convicted them last year of violating federal gun laws and covering up the shooting of a drug smuggler as he fled back to Mexico after driving across the border with 742 pounds of marijuana. Sutton's office gave the smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, immunity to serve as the government's star witness and testify against the border agents.
As WND reported, after a Senate hearing Tuesday, Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, asked Bush to commute the sentences, saying "it became very clear the sentences did not match the crime."
Feinstein concluded the hearing with a vow to look further into why prosecutors charged the men under section 924(c) of the U.S. code, which requires a 10-year sentence for using or carrying a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence.
Feinstein, during questioning of Sutton, argued the statute did not apply to Ramos and Compean in their pursuit of a drug smuggler at the Mexican border, because there was no underlying crime.
The senators called use of the statute in the case "prosecutorial overreach."
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. – who will chair a similar hearing in the House July 31 – told WND he believed the Senate session helped revive flagging interest in the case as Ramos and Compean passed 180 days of imprisonment while awaiting their appeals.
He would prefer a pardon, but said he was pleased Feinstein was taking action and found it ironic a "liberal Democrat" would do more than some "squishy Republican senators."
"I was gratified and just overwhelmed with admiration for Sen. Feinstein, that she definitely is taking this issue seriously and decided she is going to step up and fight for these little guys that are being squashed," Rohrabacher told WND.
Many supporters of Ramos and Compean have argued that if the president could pardon or commute the sentence of former White House aide "Scooter" Libby, he should show mercy to border agents who were prosecuted while a drug smuggler went free. The president commuted Libby's 30-month prison sentence earlier this month.
Rohrabacher told WND Sutton has refused to testify at the July 31 hearing of the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The congressman will examine alleged involvement of the Mexican government in the decision to prosecute the agents and others, including Texas Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez. Sutton's Western District of Texas office also prosecuted Hernandez, who was convicted of violating the civil rights of two illegal aliens injured from shell fragments that struck them as the officer shot at the tires of a van in which they escaped from a routine traffic stop. The van driver had tried to run over Hernandez.
In his prepared testimony Tuesday, Sutton acknowledged the case had been "the subject of widespread media attention and heated debate."
He insisted that since the convictions, "it has been clear that some individuals do not understand the facts of the case, while others are merely concerned with using it to make a point about some other issue, such as illegal immigration."
Sutton said he wanted to use the hearing to "set the record straight by discussing the ample facts already in the public record, but I will be limited to discussing only information in the public record."
After recounting the prosecution's view of the case, he concluded: "The prosecution of Compean and Ramos was about our commitment to the rule of law and about two former law enforcement officers who committed serious crimes. An honest reading of the facts of this case shows that Compean and Ramos deliberately shot at an unarmed man in the back without justification, destroyed evidence to cover it up, and lied about it. A jury heard the facts and voted to convict. Faithfulness to the rule of law required me to bring this case."
"emotional, emotion"... you must have got the same memo as Sutton and Aguilar. The only hysteria I see are from folks like Johhny Sutton... and your post.
... set aside Court rulings based on the screaming of 5th string talk radio hosts, columns in fringe publications or the various money rasining activist groups e mails.
Actually, I based my opinion on a close reading of the OIG report and the trial transcript, as well as sworn testimony given in front of Congress. Just wondering, do you consider Investor's Business Daily a "fringe publication?"
Never bother to think about that fact do you all?
I think about why some here want to misrepresent the facts as the documents mentioned lay out.
That ALL your information on this case is presented by tainted sources with a political ax to grind here? NO, because it fits your hyper emotional position on Illegal Immigration, you just accept as “facts” anything that fit your emotional whimsy
NO. Most are not basing their opinions on that, as mentioned above. "Tainted... ax... hyper emotional position... emotional whimsy... " That sounds a bit hysterical to me. ;-)
Well guess what. It possible for Border Patrol Agents to be thugs and crooks. Just because they serve in the Border Patrol doesn’t make them saints.
Well, duh! Unfortunately, that has been shown to not be the case in this instance.
Bush comuted Libby’s sentence so he could stay out of jail pending the appeals process. But that process is still going forward.
And he argued that he would not step in on the Ramos/Compean case until the appeals process had been completed. Double standard?
He did not over rule the legal system just to appease the emotional whisy of various far right pressure groups. That is what you all are demanding here.
There you go again with that "emotional whisy" (sic) stuff. Get a grip!
Bush, quite simply, cannot be trusted.
Absolutely right. Bush has been in a coma for over a year now. He just doesn't get it that these two agents were convicted by a kangaroo court laced with a jury that has the intelligence of a monkey. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult monkeys.
There used to be Rockefeller Republicans, Taft Republicans, Eisenhower Republicans, Goldwater Republicans, Reagan Republicans. Now there are Sutton Republicans!!!!
Ramos and Compean’s problems is that they are not among the elites to whom GWB caters — elites in both parties too.
Yes, I guess the late Molly Ivins was right after all. But what is bizarre is that Molly disliked GWB when he stands for nearly everything that she did.
Actually, he got kicked upstairs after he got the conviction. I believe he remains in that post.
03/08/2006 Jury trial concludes. Jury votes to convict on all counts except Count 1, Assault with Intent to Commit Murder.03/28/2006 DOJ Press Release, 3/29/2006 U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton appointed by Alberto Gonzales to serve as chair for the Attorney General's Advisory Committee a role "which plays a significant role in determining policies and programs of the Department and in carrying out the national goals set by the President and the Attorney General."
“It possible for Border Patrol Agents to be thugs and crooks?”
The government prosecuted Ramos and Compean criminally for acts that called only for an administrative reprimand, based the case on the testimony of an admitted drug smuggler brought back from Mexico and induced to testify by a grant of immunity, withheld crucial evidence from the jury, used the wrong law (that carries a mandatory additional 10-year sentence), and now won’t release the transcript of the trial without which the border guards cannot appeal.
The smuggler’s reward for his testimony was immunity, U.S. medical treatment, and a government-issued border pass.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security now admits that its official lied to congressmen in claiming that Ramos and Compean had confessed, lied, destroyed evidence, and said they did not believe the smuggler was a threat. No evidence ever existed for those damaging accusations.
The government denied their freedom pending appeal and put Ramos in a prison where five criminal illegal immigrants were alleged to have severely beat him and kicked him with steel-toed work boots. Reportedly, no prison guards defended him from this attack.
The prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, claims that Ramos shot an unarmed drug smuggler in the rear end as he was running away. But the ballistics report failed to prove the bullet came from Ramos’ gun, and the medical report showed that the bullet entered the smuggler’s buttock on his side at an angle consistent with Ramos’s contention that the smuggler was turning around with what looked like a weapon in his hand.
Ramos and Compean didn’t believe they wounded the smuggler because he kept running and escaped across the border into a waiting vehicle. The doctor’s description of the trajectory of the bullet he removed from the smuggler’s body casts doubt on the whole assumption that his wound came from shots fired by the border guards.
Sutton claims that Ramos and Compean were prosecuted because they “lied” and covered up their actions. The alleged lie was that they gave an incomplete report of their confrontation with the smuggler on Feb. 17, 2005.
As usual, your blathering is based on fiction.
Screw Bush and Sutton!
-—Laura Ingraham emphasized how stupid this “my friend, Johnny Sutton” remark is. How stupid Jorge Bush is on this issue, and all issues dealing with his friends, the Mexican criminals.-—
My wife has been telling be from the beginning that George Bush is stupid. I have always countered that that is just not really possible, nor is it possible that he’s crazy. Lately I have been countering with the Peggy Noonan judgement, that what seems to be lacking is wisdom. In the end though, that is not really very convincing, is it?
More and more, I’m just seeing someone who is completely out of their depth. It’s like watching an average golfer play in the Masters, not enough understanding, not enough skill, not enough control, and not enough wisdom to just step back.
Mr. Sutton also serves as the chairman of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee (AGAC) which plays a significant role in determining policies and programs of the Department and in carrying out the national goals set by the President and the Attorney General.
The AGAC consists of 17 members appointed by the Attorney General and represents different judicial circuits, various-sized offices, and expertise. Mr. Sutton also serves on the Border and Immigration Law Enforcement Subcommittee of the AGAC.
Prior to becoming United States Attorney, Mr. Sutton served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and as a Policy Coordinator for the Bush-Cheney Transition Team assigned to the Department of Justice.
Mr. Sutton served as the Criminal Justice Policy Director for then-Governor George W. Bush from 1995-2000, advising the Governor on all criminal justice issues, with specific oversight in the areas of criminal law, prison capacity and management, parole operations and legislative initiatives.
Prior to his service in the Governor’s office, Mr. Sutton worked as a criminal trial prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (Houston, Texas) for eight years. As a prosecutor, he was lead trial counsel in over sixty felony cases, including numerous capital murder, aggravated robbery, and sexual assault cases. He is fluent in Spanish, having appeared as a television commentator for the Spanish language network Univision during the Selena homicide trial.
Mr. Sutton is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in International Business in 1983, and the University of Texas School of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctor degree in 1987. As an undergraduate, he played baseball for the Longhorns and was the starting left-fielder on the 1983 National Championship team.
Johnny Sutton
United States Attorney
Western District of Texas
601 N.W. Loop 410, Suite 600
San Antonio, Texas 78216
Telephone (210) 384-7400
Libby was a friend of Cheney who is a friend of Bush. Sutton is a friend of Bush. Sorry, Ramos and Compean just don’t have friends in high enough places.
Bush makes me sick here. Pardon them already!
Here is Sen. John Cornyn's legal stats from his DC website.
As Texas Attorney General from 1999-2002, John Cornyn directed many initiatives vital to the interests of Texas families. Cornyn served for six years as a District Court Judge in San Antonio before being elected to the Texas Supreme Court in 1990, where he served for seven years.
Now here is US Attorney Johnny Sutton's stats from his DoJ website.
Prior to becoming United States Attorney, Mr. Sutton served as an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., and as a Policy Coordinator for the Bush-Cheney Transition Team assigned to the Department of Justice.
Mr. Sutton served as the Criminal Justice Policy Director for then-Governor George W. Bush from 1995-2000, advising the Governor on all criminal justice issues, with specific oversight in the areas of criminal law, prison capacity and management, parole operations and legislative initiatives.
Prior to his service in the Governor’s office, Mr. Sutton worked as a criminal trial prosecutor in the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (Houston, Texas) for eight years.
Now tell me, after reading these two biographies, who is more political? Who has better credentials? I would say Sen. Cornyn is better able to "judge" the conduct of the Ramos-Compean trial. And he agrees with Sen. Feinstein that Sutton overreached.
Pres. Bush attempted to demean those who opposed his amnesty by saying they didn't know what was best for America. He is now attempting to obscure a miscarriage of justice by saying opponents are emotional. For him to defend Johnny Sutton by saying he is a "dear friend" simply shows how tone deaf he is to the views of middle class Americans. Especially those of us who strongly believe that the rule of law, FAIRLY applied, is essential to the future of this country.
I would repeat an earlier comment that the President must choose between friendship and justice. I pray that justice wins, but I am not optimistic that justice will come via this President.
As an interesting foot note, this also from Sutton's bio:
He is fluent in Spanish, having appeared as a television commentator for the Spanish language network Univision during the Selena homicide trial.
Yep.
I guess I can’t commit to vote republican then either.
Jorge has more than just a scope up his backside today.
Libby was convicted. But I don’t Bush saying “listen to the facts Fitzgerald lays out”. He said Libby’s 30-month prison sentence was too harsh, but I guess 10 years for doing really nothing is just right.
Less than 18 months left until Bush leaves. Thank God.
Bush commuted Libby's sentence so he could stay out of jail period you frickin' moron. There is no "stay out of jail while appeals process goes on." There is an on-going appeals process in regards to Libby, but no matter what happens with the appeal, he ain't going to prison.
“Bush referred to the U.S. attorney responsible for the case, Johnny Sutton, as “a dear friend of mine” and called him a “fair guy” and “even-handed,” according to a White House transcript.”
Translation: Sutton did my dirty work for me, so I could appease the Mexican Govt. No pardons!
“I’ve been critical of W’s communication content, skills, and delivery process for years, only to be flamed by bush-bots”
Most of them are gone now : )
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