Posted on 02/07/2007 2:07:58 AM PST by Man50D
WND has obtained a Department of Homeland Security memo indicating Border Patrol agent Jose Compean made a complete, in-person verbal report to his supervisor at the scene immediately following the shooting incident for which he and colleague Ignacio Ramos are now in prison.
The May 15, 2005, report filed by DHS Special Agent Christopher Sanchez documents a conversation between Compean and his supervisor that explains the decision by all nine Border Patrol agents and supervisors on the scene not to file written reports.
As reported by WND yesterday, a DHS memo filed by Sanchez April 12, 2005, shows seven agents and two supervisors were present at the Feb. 17, 2005 incident also decided not to file written reports.
The April 12, 2005, DHS memo stated that all the agents present at the incident were equally guilty for not filing a written report.
These memos directly contradict the repeated statements of the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, that agents Ramos and Compean filed false reports about the incident.
As far as WND can determine, no written reports were filed by any of the Border Patrol agents or supervisors on the field.
Moreover, the record of the May 15, 2005, memo indicates Compean was truthful in reporting verbally to the most senior supervisor present at the incident.
Sanchez's memo of May 15, 2005, is a transcript of a hearing held by Compean with El Paso Border Patrol Sector Chief Louis Barker. The hearing was held at Compean's request in order to protest his proposed indefinite suspension resulting from his March 18, 2005, arrest on criminal charges.
The first part of the hearing was held April 7, 2005, before Compean's April 13, 2005, indictment. The second recording from the hearing is dated April 28, 2005.
At the administrative hearing, Compean was accompanied by union representative Robert Russell, a vice president of Local 1929, the El Paso branch of the National Border Patrol Council.
In the opening statement transcribed from the April 7, 2005, audio cassette, Russell makes Barker aware that Compean had made a complete report on the scene to Jonathan Richards, the more senior of the two supervisors who present at the incident.
Russell's testimony references a wound Compean suffered on his hand, a gash between the thumb and index finger, which he suffered when scuffling in the ditch with the drug smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, who had abandoned his vehicle and was attempting to escape back to Mexico on foot. Russell points to this wound as evidence of aggravated assault committed on Compean by the drug smuggler.
Here is Russell's recorded testimony:
Well, I mean, the base the basis of this is basically ummm Mr. Compean an assault took place that day against one of our agents, and he did defend himself, and the part of the assault is never mentioned in the complaint or anywhere by OIG (Office of Inspector General) that they know clearly how this did take place. A few sentences later, Russell again references that what transpired at the scene was observed by the agents and supervisors in the field and subsequently fully known to the Border Patrol management at the station in Fabens, Texas.
Russell indicates that management at Fabens themselves chose not to make a report about Compean's injury. Here is his testimony:
Even management at the station in Fabens was fully aware of what had transpired and for whatever reason nothing was ever generated and once all this comes forward, I mean, it's my belief even his attorneys' belief that even once that does come forward and all that information is presented that the charges will possibly be dropped or dismissed or he will be found not guilty based on that what did transpire. Directly contradicting prosecutor Sutton's assertion that agents Ramos and Compean filed false reports, the April 2005 administrative hearing reveals Compean was forthcoming concerning the events of the incident.
In the second cassette, Russell makes clear that the reluctance to do more formal reporting after the incident came from supervisor Richards.
But the fact of the matter is an assault did take place. Umm Mr. Richards did know about it. Umm whether Mr. Compean Mr. Compean said yes sir to this or whether he was assaulted or not doesn't negate Mr. Richards responsibility to take some action from the facts that were presented to him as to what happened out there.
He was on the scene. He was told by another agent exactly what had happened and it pretty much apparently stopped at that point.
Russell argues Richards did not want to go through the trouble of filing written paperwork. So rather than press the hand injury, which Compean felt was minor, Compean gave in to Richards' pressure to forget about the hand injury, obviating the only issue the supervisor felt might be needed to document in writing.
Station Chief Barker asked Compean why he didn't report the shooting. Compean admitted that possibly a written report should have been filed, but he and the other Border Patrol on the scene considered the incident inconsequential.
Compean testified:
As As I stated to umm to this earlier I didn't I just I know it was wrong for us not to reported it and I if I would have thought that he had been hit or anything like that had happened I would have I didn't I just I knew we were going to get in trouble because the way the way it's been at the station the last two three years uhh I mean everything always comes down to the alien. The agents are as soon as anything comes up it is always always the agent's fault. The agents have always been cleared but, with management, it's always been the agent's fault. We're the ones that get in trouble. Compean continued to note that Aldrete-Davila escaped, and none of the agents in the field thought he had been hit. All the agents and supervisors in the field knew there had been a shooting and none of the agents or supervisors filed any written reports. There was no "cover-up" of anything that happened that day in the field, the documentation indicates. The only defect was failure by all to file a written report, including the two supervisors present.
Compean emphasized that the failure to report the incident was considered minor given the outcome:
He (Aldrete-Davila) was already gone back south. I really didn't didn't think he had been hit. The way I saw him walking back south he looked he looked fine to us and we just didn't nothing was ever said as as to don't say anything keep your mouth shut nothing like that was ever was ever brought up either. We just we just didn't bring it up. Compean's testimony emphasized supervisor Richards pressured him not to file a written report:
When we got back to the station it was the same thing he asked me and the way the way I the way he he asked me ... he made it seemed like he wanted me to say no and that's why I said it. By denying he had been injured, Compean made it possible for Richards to avoid the trouble of filing a written report on the incident.
The issue about filing a written report, according to Compean's testimony, turned on his willingness not to mention the assault. The decision not to file a written report did not turn on wanting to hide the fact that shooting had taken place.
Moreover, Richards was well aware Compean had been injured in a scuffling match with Aldrete-Davila on the levee, when he wrestled the drug smuggler down. Compean did not even realize his hand had been cut until Richards pointed it out to him at the levee.
The Customs and Border Patrol manual mentions that the penalty for failure to report the discharge of a firearm or use of a weapon as required by the applicable firearms policy is a written reprimand, or at most a five-day suspension for the first offense. The manual makes no mention of the possibility of criminal punishment for failure to report the discharge of a weapon.
In a last, more belligerent section of the hearing, Barker charges, "There was a shooting where somebody was shot and NOTHING WAS SAID!" The capital letters were in the original transcript, probably reflecting Barker's emphasis.
Russell responds, according to the transcript: "That was an administrative violation on his part by not reporting it to the agency, yes, but on the same part the agency failed to act when it knew that an agent had been assaulted."
Then, Russell himself shouts out, "EMPLOYEES SAW IT," pointing out seven Border Patrol agents besides Ramos and Compean, including two supervisors, were at the scene.
According to the transcript, the pressure on Compean not to file a written report came from Richards, the senior supervisor on the field.
Richards was applying pressure on Compean not to report the assault, because that would have demanded paperwork.
Moreover, according to the hearing transcript, there is no record Richards ever mentioned to Compean the need to file a written report on the shooting.
Ping!
Oops! Second attempt ping!
Unreal. Now Duke DA Mike Nifong and Johnny Sutton belong in jail.
Some peoples just want to believe that it's all Mayberry down on the border where you can sing Kumbaya to assaultive criminals and they tear up with regret.
"When we got back to the station it was the same thing he asked me and the way
the way I
the way he
he asked me ... he made it seemed like he wanted me to say no and that's why I said it."
This is vague.
This was a railroad job by the Bush administration from day one. These 2 guys were set up to appease the Mexican Government, the illegals that were marching in the streets of U.S. cities AND to get the Latino vote.
I fully understand that. I have felt from day one that this case was handled like a BS political agenda.
But what is above in the article is by no means an exoneration.
Pardon
Reinstate
Promote ahead of peers
...and for added value:
Pick any two senior BP officials who assisted the prosecution, fire them ("accept their resignations with regret", even) and replace them with these two.
"(and U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton has got some 'splainin' to do)"
My guess is he was waiting for the 800 lbs of pot this guy was bringing in and was very disappointed when it didnt arrive.
That is the only conclusion I can reach myself.
You forget the /sarcasm? (I would advise a "yes" response)
Thank you for the post. These are the charges as posted intent to commit murder, assault with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, and a civil rights violation.
The title of this article is: Imprisoned border agent did report shooting
From the article These memos directly contradict the repeated statements of the prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, that agents Ramos and Compean filed false reports about the incident.
The point of this article is the shooting may or may not have been reported.
Below is from the article.
as to don't say anything keep your mouth shut nothing like that was ever
was ever brought up either. We just
we just didn't bring it up. When we got back to the station it was the same thing he asked me and the way
the way I
the way he
he asked me ... he made it seemed like he wanted me to say no and that's why I said it.
Again, the above is vague, but not the focus.
Given that they were not sent to prison for the false reports, I dont see this as being an exoneration.
These two agents were railroaded, pure and simple.
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