Posted on 12/18/2007 5:54:38 AM PST by BGHater
Last week, the White House released a list of 29 pardons issued by President Bush. It included drug dealers, carjackers, a moonshiner, a man convicted of stealing government property and another for receiving kickbacks in military procurement contracts. Conspicuously missing were former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean — who are currently serving 11- and 12-year federal prison sentences, respectively, for shooting a suspected drug smuggler in the buttocks on Feb, 17, 2005, about 30 miles southeast of El Paso. The border agents were convicted by a federal jury on charges that included assault with a dangerous weapon; lying about the incident; and violating the alleged smuggler's Fourth Amendment right to be protected against illegal search and seizure. The Ramos/Compean prosecutions are but one in a series of questionable ones undertaken against law enforcement personnel who used force against criminals or illegal aliens by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, a longtime political ally of Mr. Bush.
The man the agents shot, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, fled to Mexico after refusing Ramos's and Compean's orders to stop and abandoning a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. Mr. Aldrete-Davila was located in Mexico by an investigator with the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general and offered immunity for his testimony against the border agents. The suspected drug smuggler subsequently filed a $5 million suit against the federal government for violating his civil rights. "This case represents the worst kind of distorted and upside-down values," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, said last year. "The drug smugglers are treated like innocent victims and the good guys protecting our borders are given the harshest possible punishment."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Big bttt!!!!!
Small correction. It should read:
"it sends a message to every law-enforcement agent that if you counter the Bush agenda on unfettered illegal immigration, then you will be charged with something, no matter how ridiculous, and sent to prison for a long time.
From the Fourth concerning border searches --''That searches made at the border, pursuant to the longstanding right of the sovereign to protect itself by stopping and examining persons and property crossing into this country, are reasonable simply by virtue of the fact that they occur at the border, should, by now, require no extended demonstration.'' Authorized by the First Congress, the customs search in these circumstances requires no warrant, no probable cause, not even the showing of some degree of suspicion that accompanies even investigatory stops. Moreover, while prolonged detention of travelers beyond the routine customs search and inspection must be justified by the Terry standard of reasonable suspicion having a particularized and objective basis, Terry protections as to the length and intrusiveness of the search do not apply.
***”it sends a message to every law-enforcement agent that if you counter the Bush agenda on unfettered illegal immigration, then you will be charged with something, no matter how ridiculous, and sent to prison for a long time.***
Yours reads better.
We’ve gotta disassociate ourselves from Jorge—or we’re toast.
This act (or inaction) is way beyond disgusting.
Personally, I don’t think President’s should be pardoning anybody, under most circumstances.
And sorry, these two should not be ‘pardoned’.
A commutation of sentence, perhaps, but not a pardon. They’ve shown they should NEVER be allowed to carry a firearm and a badge again. The poor judgement they exercised cannot be denied.
But you can make the case the sentence was way to harsh given the circumstances.
Quite frankly, the BP should have ‘sentry’ powers during the WOT and should be able to fire or shoot at anytime.
I’m noting we as a society can’t have LEO’s of any stripe, under any conditions that existed when this happened, fire off rounds and then try to cover it up.
Thats unbelievably poor judgement. As such, they can’t be allowed to reenter their profession, which would be possible if they were pardoned.
I don’t want LEO’s that think the way they do, in short.
President Bush should pardon them TODAY. RIGHT NOW.
These two were featured on Americas Most Wanted in a segment that completely ripped the Federal Prosecutor. As big a fan as I am of John Walsh, I still couldn’t believe it was so absolutely one-sided in favor of the BP agents.
Nope, sorry.
If you have a problem with Johnny Sutton, prosecute/remove Johnny Sutton.
Its not an ‘either/or’ thing. To suggest it is ignores our judicial system completely. You do see that, right?
You bring up things irrelevant to the case against these two.
The ‘victim’ is irrelevant.
They fired off rounds, and then tried to cover it up. Period.
We cannot allow LEO’s to do this. Period. for the obvious reason.
That's an administrative infraction, not cause for a sentence longer than the average carjacker or rapist.
‘That’s an administrative infraction,’
Ah, no. Its a criminal act, one that involved ‘conspiracy’.
’ not cause for a sentence longer than the average carjacker or rapist.’
I tink the sentence was too harsh. but I don’t have any problem with the verdict.
‘That’s an administrative infraction,’
Ah, no. Its a criminal act, one that involved ‘conspiracy’.
Agreed. The shooting itself might have been an administrative infraction, but the coverup was not. Had they come clean right away instead of trying to hide their actions, the situation would be different.
Cops who lie and falsify reports are crooked, cannot be tolerated and can't be trusted with the authority of law. That the "victim" is a scumbag has nothing to do with it - cops who'll lie about a bad guy will also lie about an innocent man.
‘Cops who lie and falsify reports are crooked, cannot be tolerated and can’t be trusted with the authority of law. That the “victim” is a scumbag has nothing to do with it - cops who’ll lie about a bad guy will also lie about an innocent man.’
Bingo.
It’s not an administrative infraction if they shoot an unarmed fleeing suspect, as the jury decided. Compean signed a statement he wrote himself saying he told another agent at the station that he thought Ramos had hit the guy. So all this “they didn’t know they shot someone” is hooey and just another lie in the cover up.
Another constant proclamation from R&C supporters is that R&C received a longer sentence than murderers, rapists and carjackers. That may be true but it is immaterial. First, this was a federal crime in federal court subject to federal laws, one of which was the mandatory ten for using a gun during the commission of a crime. You are comparing apples to oranges when you put this crime next to those handled by local cities and states, who do not have mandatory sentencing.
If you want to compare sentencing, do some research on the sentences of those convicted in federal court for the same crimes on which R&C were convicted.
The last thing I’d like to point out is that the Judge, whom R&C supporters constantly attack and condemn, did back flips to reduce the sentence of R&C to the minimum she could. Taking away the 10 year mandatory, she sentenced them to one and two years respectively for all the other counts on which they were convicted, including assault, destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice.
Notice that all this grandstanding and demagoguery that is being exhibited by politicians calling for a pardon has not been accompanied by legislation to correct what they claim to be a miscarriage of justice, the 10 year mandatory being applied to LEO’s. In other words, a cop accused today of the same crime is STILL going to be subject to that 10 years in prison.
One would think if they were that outraged by what happened they would immediately work to fix that. But they haven’t, preferring to make grandiose pronouncements about righting the wrong visited on R&C...but doing nothing to keep other LEO’s from suffering the same fate.
Makes one think.
Remember GWB is said to be “loyal” to his “friends”. So Johnny Sutton can block such pardons. In fact, the pardons were never even considered by the stubborn GWB.
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