Posted on 01/18/2007 4:34:51 PM PST by jdm
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush left open the possibility of a pardon for two U.S. Border Patrol agents serving federal prison sentences for shooting a Mexican drug dealer as he fled and covering up the crime.
Bush said "there's a process for pardons" and the case has to work its way through the system. In an interview with KFOX-TV in El Paso, Texas, Bush said the White House will review the case, and he urged people to "take a sober look at the case."
"People need to take a tough look at the facts, the evidence a jury looked at, as well as the judge. And I will do the same thing," he said.
Several lawmakers have urged the president to pardon former Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos for the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who retreated to Mexico after he was shot and later admitted he was transporting marijuana while in the U.S. illegally.
The agents began serving their sentences Wednesday — 11 years and one day for Ramos and 12 years for Compean. Both were fired after their convictions on several charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, obstruction of justice, and a civil rights violation.
Rancor over the convictions and sentencing of the agents has been simmering for months, and the two have become a cause celebre among conservatives and on talk shows. Their supporters have said they were defending themselves and have called them heroes. The agents' prosecution occurred as the issue of illegal immigration was being debated in Congress and amid campaigns for last November's midterm elections.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, introduced a bill Thursday calling for a congressional pardon of the agents. Congress has never issued pardons to anyone convicted of a crime.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
The Democratic controlled Congress will wash the word "help" right out of your mind in a hurry.
Odd, I don't don't remember Gerald Ford saying that about Nixon.
That is just the first to come to mind, because it is such a prominent case; not that I disagree with it.
You got that right.
What after she dumped you? ;)
Just as I suspected. Zotting is like having sex.
He is a good man, and the best of the lot.
It is about time. How much longer is he going to keep these heroes behind bars.
Same question goes for US GI's
Wm
You'd prefer the Border Agents look the other way when they see a drug smuggler running after told to stop? There is something wrong with the way our government seeks out a drug smuggler across the border and gives him immunity to testify against our USBP agents, one of whom had been named Agent of the Year. Unless there is intent to keep the border open so that they cheap labor keeps flooding across the border, this was another bungled act by the federal bureaucracy. Good way to curtail border agent recruitment and encourage more drug runners.
That's what I've read about this case as well.
Seeing as how everyone abandoned the GOP in droves and elected a Dem Congress, I hardly suspect the Democrats are going to really care about this issue, since they've never really given a damn about it in the first place, and their voter base sides with the illegals.
Fixing the border problem ain't even on the Democrats list of things to do in the first 100 hours or days or whatever the hell they're calling it.
The sarcasm is strong in you.
I read that they shot 15 rds from their 9mms. One agent shot 14 times the other shot once and he was the one who hit the illegal. Are you sure you read the evidence?
SUddenly Bush is "on top of" this case, when he risks being made to look REAL bad because of it. As I predicted hours ago on another thread, the WH would evaluate how much political damage might come their way over this, then initiate a offer/counter-offer process , continually running it up the flagpole to assess relative risk here and there. Too little too late. Instead of pardoning the BAs , maybe the first order of business SHOULD be to explain just HOW this thing developed, WHY agents went down to find this criminal creep and OFFER HIM AMNESTY in order to indict the BAs. Just WHAT considerations are operative there? THAT is where he should start,but neither he nor anyone else will start, or end there.
More half-assed "facts" from the incomparable Jorge.
1. Border agents are, by the nature of their jobs, called on to be to a degree directly tied to action, BOTH judge and jury, in the sense of assessing probable cause for pursuit,etc.
2. Part of the case AGAINST them is that they didn't know the guy was smuggling drugs, so that is a REALLY bad point also.
3. The shot numerous times, obviously from a distance, and there was NO execution. The smuggler got some shot in his buttocks. Obviously he was "hurt", but I am sure within days he was walking around, with medical attention courtesy of the USA, proud as punch of his new role as VICTIM OF OVERZEALOUS AMERICAN ASSASSINS.
I hope GW issues a pardon eventhough it's pretty evident from hearing the facts that the agents could have withheld their fire as they were not fired upon and the illegal guy was running away. I think they must have been really stressed after chasing him. Anyways, there could have been a number of other ways to handle it without a trial. Those guys have a very hard job and are at risk of harm everyday.
Cronkite's lies about Tet convinced a lot of good people about Vietnam, and most of them still have not come to their senses.
BTW, Krankheit (pronounced Cronkite) is the German word for "sickness."
"These agents did some very underhanded things, they covered up evidence, knew the perp was unarmed and they fired 12 rounds from their shot guns into the back of the suspect as he tried to flee.
Thank you. Nice to read comments from somebody who actually knows something about the case."
What I know about the case is that an illegal trying to deliver $1,000,000 in drugs was shot in the butt resisting arrest and fleeing tghe scene. He is free and the officials who tried to arrest him are in jail.
I really don't need to know any more than that. Bush is not doing his job, again.
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