If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
Posted on 04/10/2008 3:29:25 PM PDT by pissant
Duncan Hunter continued to advocate for the wrongfully (IMHO) convicted border patrol agents this week…
Two California congressmen are renewing their efforts to ensure the safety of two jailed border patrol agents by encouraging the Bureau of Prisons to move Ignacio Ramos, 37, and Jose Alonso Compean, 28, to a minimum security facility. On Wednesday, Harley Lappin, Bureau of Prisons director for the federal government, visited the Phoenix facility currently housing Mr. Ramos.
“If agents Ramos and Compean must continue serving their sentences, then they should be moved to a minimum security facility where they will not be threatened and under such restrictive conditions,” stated Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.). Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) is also joining in Mr. Hunter’s efforts to remove the agents from the Phoenix security facility.
Messrs. Ramos and Compean’s troubles began on Feb. 15, 2005, when, while on duty, Mr. Compean spotted Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, an illegal immigrant, behaving in a suspicious manner. (It would later be discovered that Mr. Aldrete-Davila was attempting to smuggle 800 pounds of marijuana into the country.) Mr. Compean ordered Mr. Aldrete-Davila to stop, but a chase ensued.
Mr. Compean called for backup, which drew seven additional units, including Mr. Ramos. Upon arriving at the scene, Mr. Ramos heard gunfire and saw Mr. Compean struggling with Mr. Aldrete-Davila. Mr. Compean was bleeding on the ground and Mr. Ramos ordered Mr. Aldrete-Davila to stop, an order he disobeyed. Both agents feared for their lives, and when a shiny object was spotted in Mr. Aldrete-Davila’s hand, shots were fired, and the illegal immigrant was hit in the buttocks.
Mr. Aldrete-Davila escaped that night, but Messrs. Compean and Ramos were not as fortunate, as the U.S. attorney charged the agents for shooting the narcotics-smuggling immigrant. Mr. Aldrete-Davila was given immunity for his testimony against the agents and the government even footed the bill to pay for his treatment.
Both agents were convicted, with Mr. Compean receiving a 12-year sentence and Mr. Ramos an 11-year sentence.
“After 14 months of enduring the harsh conditions of solitary confinement, Mr. Lappin should do the right thing and exercise his authority to move the agents into more humane conditions,” stated Mr. Rohrabacher. “They are effectively serving a double sentence for an unjust conviction that may very well be overturned.”
Because of security threats from Hispanic inmates imprisoned with the two agents, Messrs. Compean and Ramos were segregated from the general prison population and must remain in their cells for 23 hours a day. Thus, they are not afforded basic privileges of telephone use, daily showers and television access.
“In my conversation with Director Lappin … I asked that he review the status of agent Ramos and consider his transfer,” Mr. Hunter stated. “Director Lappin assured me that he would personally meet with agent Ramos and review his situation, as well as the events that led to his incarceration. I look forward to talking with Director Lappin … and further discussing the prospects of moving agents Ramos and Compean to a minimum security facility.”
When contacted about the matter, Traci Billingsley, a spokesperson from the Bureau of Prisons, stated it was against Bureau policy to comment on such matters and Messrs. Ramos and Compean would be treated like any other inmates.
Wasn’t there a Federal Judge who was supposed to render some kind of decision regarding one of these border agents?
IIRC, he was supposed to render a decision within 60 days, and that was sometime around the first of 2008.
I’m not sure when their appeals are supposed to be heard.
Keep the faith. These guys need to go home to their families.
Good for Duncan Hunter and Dana Rohrabacher!
Sorry, but Bush should be horsewhipped for letting these two men suffer for HIS leadership failures on our southern border.
Or is he too busy still campaigning for a job, any job with the McCain Administration in DC?
Both Ramos & Compean need to be released...now. Put this in every post you put on this board. Lets bring them out.
If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.
I’d be obliged if anyone could send me an address or any way I might contact those two political prisoners to give whatever support I can. I regard this issue much the same as most leftists regard Sacco & Vanzetti (they were guilty however).
There is hope. This ICE agent was cleared by a jury of his peers:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/apr/10/ice-agent-cleared-in-leak-case/
Of course, he owes his lawyers $250K and his career is ruined.
Ain’t it grand.
Ramos & Compean bump !
Shame on George Bush. The President is a horrid individual for letting this happen.
What does this have to do with the two innocent Border Patrol Agents?
I guess. This guy got smashed by the Denver ‘Rat power structure. Denver DAs office is mostly ‘Rat hacks with badges and the sitting Gov was spawned there.
At least in the rear view mirror one could expect that. But the Border guys weren’t hosed by ‘Rats.
In our legal system, the presumption of innocence ceases after 12 of your fellow citizens convict you of a crime. You then become guilty and a criminal, unless your conviction is overturned by a court of appeals.
I absolutely believe Ramos and Compean are innocent, but that description of the event is as accurate as Hillary's sniper story.
If twelve of your peers are presented bogus and slanted evidence by an issue driven prosecutor and then base their verdict on that, in your opinion, the Agents are still criminals? You go ahead a continue to march lockstep with a corrupt prosecutor and pray it doesn’t happen to you.
PING!
RAMOS/COMPEAN Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on or off this list.
Impossible, mistakes in our justice system are not possible. Just ask the legion of Freepers who want executions carried out immediately after the verdict is read.
The appeal was argued in December. We thought a decision would be rendered within 60 days, but here we are still waiting, they are still imprisoned and who knows what Johnny Satan is doing to try to keep them there.
I saw Rep. Poe on Glenn Beck a couple weeks ago. He said he expected a ruling within the next month or two.
My opinion of Pres. Bush has been forever altered as a result of the way he handled this. Compassionate conservative, my butt.
The heart of this case is that the prosecutor, Johnny Sutton, re-wrote, or changed the wording of the statutes (924-c-1-A) in order to facilitate the indictment and prosecution of the the BP agents in court.
In the words of attorney Mark Brewer, who the amicus curiae brief for the Fifth Circuit, the two agents wound up being prosecuted for a "proscribed criminal offense never enacted into law by Congress".
If there is one thing worse than judges acting as legislators, - it's prosecutors acting as legislators.
Barbara Streisand. I’ve read the trial transcripts. The heart of the case was the testimony given by Ramos and Compean straight from their own mouths. They sunk their own ships.
Are all inmates railroaded the way these guys were?
Did Sutton re-write the statutes or didn't he...?
We now know that the instructions to the jury were "in error" because the statute in question was "in error" or fabricated.
Read for yourself : Here
I’ve yet to hear Bush acknowledge that he has had any leadership failure regarding the border.
Truman had the sign on his desk that read ‘The Buck Stops Here’. I think Dubya has a sign that says ‘Pass the Buck to Someone Else’.
Since you claim to know better, tell us what is wrong with that description.
“I’ve read the trial transcripts”
Sure you have. Now give us the exact words of Ramos and Compean, where they “sunk their own ships”.
First, Compean did not observe Osvaldo Davila doing suspicious activity. He observed a van leaving a known drug smuggling corridor and called it in. Upon reception of that call most of the agents in the Fabens area responded and began a search for the van. Agent Juarez, who testified against Ramos and Compean, was first to observe the van and Osvaldo. Ramos had been eating lunch at the station and responded by going to where he reasoned a smuggler would drive in the small city of Fabens. He parked at the only light in town and waited. The van did drive past him followed by Juarez. At that point Osvaldo, the smuggler, realized he was being followed. He circled a block followed by Juarez as Ramos turned at the stop-light and went back following the path Osvaldo had used to reach the light. Ramos intercepted Osvaldo after Osvaldo had circled the block to retrace his path. Ramos then took up the following position trailing Osvaldo with Juarez following Ramos. Osvaldo raced towards the border, about 5 miles away with Ramos and Juarez in tow. To the chase many other agents were responding. Agent Vasquez, another agent who testified against Ramos and Compean took up position behind Ramos and Juarez. The three agents following Osvaldo along with Osvaldo were observed racing towards the river/border by agent Mendoza who was also responding. Meanwhile, Compean, after calling in the van, listened to the ensuing radio calls as the van was detected and the chase began. Knowing the Fabens area, he went to the point to which he knew Osvaldo was heading and waited there until he observed the approaching vehicles in the distance. He prepared himself for the unknown with his shotgun and approached the anticipated meeting point. This point was across a ditch from Compean's van which was atop a levee separating the ditch from a sandy area leading to the Rio Grande, namely the U.S. Mexican border.
Second, upon sliding to a desperate stop, Osvaldo kept from the van as it slid to a stop overhanging its front tires into the above mentioned ditch. As an aside, I have been to that ditch several times in order to see for myself the area where the incident occurred. It fits exactly with the testimony Ramos gives about the incident. After leaping from the vehicle Osvaldo is observed for the first time by Compean who responds by going to the southern end of the ditch which separates Osvaldo and Compean. Compean apparently thinks that Osvaldo raises his hands and then jumps into the ditch. While this is occurring Ramos drives up, followed immediately thereafter by Juarez. Ramos does not observe Osvaldo until Osvaldo is in the ditch. Ramos goes to the northern side of the ditch nearly directly opposite of Compean and observes Osvaldo fleeing through the ditch. Juarez arrives nearly entering the ditch with his vehicle as Osvaldo did. He does not observe Ramos, at all, until after the whole shooting incident is over(by his testimony). Juarez testifies he entered the ditch in order to chase Osvaldo and then later testifies he slipped into the ditch and went halfway into the 14 or 15 foot deep ditch. Now all this activity at the ditch has happened in mere seconds. Third, as Osvaldo enters the ditch which has a stream of sewer water running at its bottom, Compean is yelling for Osvaldo to raise his hands and stop. He does not follow the commands for any appreciable amount of time. Compean points the shotgun at Osvaldo as he shouts the commands with no effect. Ramos has pulled his weapon and has it at ready pistol as he fixes on Osvaldo in the ditch. He does not observe anyone but Osvaldo, but also knows that Compean is across from him yelling, along with others who are also yelling according to Ramos. He never observes them. After Osvaldo, still not stopping, crosses the water and climbs the southern end of the ditch where Compean is, Osvaldo stops and looks back. He testifies he sees two or three agents behind him with guns aimed at him telling him to stop. Osvaldo then states he continues his approach to within a step or two of Compean and raises his hands while stating take it easy in English. He also hears someone say hit him in Spanish and he somehow fits stating "No me pegues" in the minuscule time-frame of that event. Why he goes from English to Spanish is not clear. In any case, Compean testifies that he hears the "hit him", but no one testifies stating it.
At that point, Compean uses his shotgun as a device to stop Osvaldo from exiting the ditch. Ramos seeing that Osvaldo is not stopping and sensing that he will not stop after Osvaldo looks back, holsters his weapon and jumps into the ditch to cross and assist Compean. Going back to Compean and the shotgun, Osvaldo has approached within a step or two of Compean and "raises" his hands to surrender. As Compean uses the shotgun in an attempt to push Osvaldo back, Osvaldo deflects the shotgun and scampers sideways. Compean slips. Fourth, now the versions which have differed a bit amongst those testifying really diverge. I will go with what Ramos has stated since his appears to be the most accurate of the testimonies. I will add what Compean stated where Ramos did not observe the event. Ramos has entered the ditch and is facing the walls of the ditch as he enters. He faces the water as he crosses the smelly stream and he faces the southern wall of the ditch as he climbs out. He does not observe anybody at these points. Meanwhile, Compean, having slipped into the ditch after missing Osvaldo, gives chase to the fleeing suspect. Compean catches Osvaldo as Osvaldo crosses over the levee. They tumble down the slope of the levee into the sandy area called the vega. They wrestle for no more than a few seconds when Osvaldo breaks free and runs. Compean has gotten dirt thrown in his face by Osvaldo. As Osvaldo flees, Compean on his knees from the wrestling observes Osvaldo reach back with what appears to be a gun in his hand. Up to this time, no one has seen Osvaldo with a weapon, but the total time from Osvaldo leaving the van to the point just described is less than a minute and Osvaldo has not been patted down. Compean responds quickly by pulling his pistol and firing a fusillade at Davila as he continues to flee. Compean fires nearly a full clip, about 11 bullets, but does not go empty. He stops firing before he is empty so as not to be unarmed. He fumbles for his second magazine.
At this point and just prior, Ramos is in the ditch. He hears the firing while in the ditch and thinks that there is a shootout going on. He rapidly climbs out of the ditch, readies his weapon while running and runs over the levee. All of the shots Compean has fired occurred while Ramos was in the ditch. Cresting the levee and looking for the two individuals, Ramos sees Compean "on the floor" and quickly acquires Osvaldo since he is the threat. Ramos has heard shots and sees Compean not standing. Ramos sprints past Compean who is still on the ground fumbling with his pouch attempting to get at his new magazine. He has already dropped the first magazine but still has a loaded weapon. Now the reason Compean can not get the second magazine is fairly obvious. He is on one knee, he went to one knee in order to fire, and fat. He cannot easily get to the magazine. He has not seen Ramos due to his distraction, so obviously his eyes are not on Osvaldo. Compean rises to get at that magazine. Ramos, having run past Compean, stops and yells at Osvaldo to stop. Osvaldo is steps from the river and he turns and reaches back towards Ramos. Ramos takes this as action as life-threatening and fires a single shot. He does not observe the effect, but does not observe Osvaldo when he tries to reacquire him after the shot. The pistol shot was tremendous! After running through a ditch, sprinting over a levee and yelling, Ramos fired a single shot which we now know hit Osvaldo in the buttocks. Osvaldo was over 150 feet away. Who would have thought that Ramos could have hit anything smaller than a barn under those conditions. Well, he didn't think he did hit anything. Compean, engrossed in getting that magazine, hears the shot and looks up to see Ramos. He does not see Osvaldo. Compean comes to Ramos side and they both scan the river and see noone. At this point, Ramos first sees Compean's condition. Compean is dusty and has a cut on his chin.
The other two agents did not see Ramos shoot. Juarez testified that he saw Compean shoot nearly a full magazine from the top of the levee, exchange the magazine and fire at least twice more as he ran down the side of the levee out of sight. Vasquez testified he arrived at the ditch and heard numerous shots as he exited his vehicle, but saw no shooters. Had Compean been shooting from the top of the levee he would have been seen by anyone close to the scene. I've been there. Vasquez later testified he picked up shell casings for Compean from the top of the levee and one even was on the ditch side of the levee. He heard shots, but saw no one?
In any case, that is what I think happened using the testimony, not the fairy tale this article tries to pass off.
Davila is a totally useless and untrustworthy witness.
BTW, he goes on trial for drug smuggling himself within the next few weeks.
Appeal verdict due within 30 days. Prosecutorial and even judicial misconduct appears clear ... has since the jury trial. But only to us on the outside of these events!
I wish I could stop reading all these conflicting reports on the original incident. What happened out there really doesn't matter at this point. Suffice it to say that the 12 Americans, or what pass as Americans in the "Zona de Tolerancia" that our porous and corrupt Mexican border corridor has become, could not in their collective stupidity and ignorance, see through the discrepancies in reports of original incident. Bottom line: an American Judge and Jury found these people guilty. Period. The Jerry Springer jurors can cry all they want after their ignorant acts condemned these two men. Simply disgusting.
These two men are still in prison because the government has worked itself into a corner. Typically about 99/100 of the action will be hidden from public view while the Feds work deals to try to figure out how to release these two while avoiding any blame or civil responsibility for misconduct on the prosecutor's part. I have no doubt that they are also attempting to put Dávila-Aldrete away without revealing during his trial what actually happened in regard to his immunity, or the involvement of the corrupt Border Patrolman Sánchez and others higher up. After all, Ramos and Compeán might be called as witnesses! Can't have that.
There is also the involvement of the Mexican Government and State Department. This goes to the top. It unfortunately is quite possible that certain elements feel that if Ramos and Compeán are done away with by inmates, their own activities might remain hidden during the civil actions which shall inevitably follow this travesty. They normally would have been considered for release pending the appeal, or at least placed in minimum security,like any tax cheat or mafia member.
Of course, all this discussion is fruitless until the Appeals Court speaks... and my friends, we might not like what they have to say. A clue might be that neither Bush, McCain, nor any Democrat, of course, are even discussing the issue. If Ramos and Compeán lose the appeal, Bush will probably pardon them as he leaves the White House. That leaves them still guilty ... and still in danger from other inmates from another 8 months... while holding Sutton harmless.
Hunter, Rohrabacher et al are using the issue, but at least keeping it alive in the media, which I fear is all that is keeping Ramos and Compeán alive in prison.
Of course, if he's a really good lawyer, this won't happen. He'll use the info to arm-twist the prosecutor into making a deal. If the prosecutor has his wits about him, he can then use this to further damage Ramos and Compeán, with more false testimony from the dope smuggler!
There are millions at stake.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.