Posted on 12/22/2006 4:58:51 AM PST by radar101
Former Border Patrol Agent Jose Alonso Compean attends a press conference and rally on Thursday, December 21, 2006 in front of the Old Orange County Courthouse where supporters, led by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher requested the President pardon both Compean and fellow agent Ignacio Ramos' conviction for the non fatal shooting of a Mexican citizen smuggling drugs into the United States. Compean and Ramos are both facing more than 10 years in prison.
In the first official response of any kind to several congressional letters sent on behalf of two former Border Patrol agents, the U.S. Department of Justice Thursday recommended that the agents personally petition for a presidential pardon.
The Justice Department letter was one highlight of a midafternoon rally in Santa Ana for former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. At the rally, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, demanded that President Bush review the agents' case and either pardon them or commute their sentences. "This is a definitive moment for President Bush's character," Rohrabacher said at the press conference. "We are not attacking the president. We are pleading with him to please give these people a holiday pardon."
Compean and Ramos were sentenced in October to 12 and 11 years, respectively, in federal prison for the non-fatal shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler. Both men believed the smuggler was carrying a weapon during a foot chase along the Texas-Mexico border in April 2005.
Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, the smuggler, was given immunity and full medical care for the wound to his buttocks by the Texas U.S. Attorney's Office in exchange for testifying against the agents.
Aldrete-Davila, who lives in Mexico, is suing the U.S. Border Patrol for $5 million for civil rights violations.
Compean and Ramos were fired from the Border Patrol following their convictions last spring. Their case has garnered national attention since the Daily Bulletin first published the agents' story in August.
Grassfire.org, a conservative national issues advocacy organization, has collected more than 156,000 petition signatures nationwide seeking a presidential pardon for the agents.
Compean, his wife Patty, and their three children attended Thursday's rally. Compean's mother held her youngest grandchild, 3-month-old David, in her arms.
Anna Belle, 11, Compean's oldest child, stood by her mother and smiled as her father began to thank those who have supported the family.
"If the president could look into my husband's eyes, he would know that he is a good man and that he is innocent of what he has been accused of," Patty Compean told the Daily Bulletin.
White House officials have not commented on the case, though the Justice Department letter acknowledges receipt of Rohrabacher's Dec. 6 letter to the president, which was signed by 48 congressmen.
The Justice Department letter then outlines what steps the agents should follow to pursue a presidential pardon.
"As to the issue you raise of a presidential pardon, should Messrs. Ramos and Compean wish to petition for clemency, they may contact the Office of the Pardon Attorney at the Department of Justice for further information on eligibility and procedures," the note reads.
The letter is a watershed of sorts for the agents, who have had several different groups of congressmen send letters on their behalf to the president, with no response of any kind prior to Thursday.
Staff writer Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com, or by phone at (909)483-8552.
PARDON??? B.S.!!
They should get MEDALS!!!
ok, i have been following this story for a while....based upon what I have read, the jury should not have convicted them....what am I not reading or seeing here?
The only other way out of this is an appeal--which can take up to FIVE years
Not going to happen. We are talking about the same President who allows murder charges against Marines doing their jobs.
no, I mean what was the evidence that convicted them...based upon what I have read, there was nothing to convict there...what part of the evidence has not been posted or mentioned? Ya don't convict someone of a crime unless there is evidence of that crime. I would like to know what the jury heard that made them return a guilty verdict.
sw
I agree . Can you imagine taking a law suit to court when you are a smuggler and get shot for smuggling.?
Ridiculous.
Set these men free Mr President.
The two agents pursued Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, whose van was later found to contain nearly 800 pounds of marijuana. After Aldrete-Davila left his van and struggled with Compean, both agents shot at him as he fled but thought they had missed him, and he crossed the river back into Mexico. One of Ramos' bullets had hit Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks, it turned out.
A jury convicted Ramos and Compean in March of serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence, obstruction of justice, and a civil rights violation. They are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 22.
Aldrete-Davila, who was given immunity by the U.S. government to testify against the agents, is now suing the Border Patrol for $5 million for alleged civil rights violations.
So the drug smuggler somehow turned out to be the golden boy in this whole thing, with immunity from smuggling charges and a chance at $5 million in U.S. taxpayer money. The two Border Patrol agents are looking at hard time.
We don't presume to question jury convictions. But there are a lot of things not to like about this whole case and the way it developed.
It makes us uncomfortable that a Department of Homeland Security investigator tracked down Aldrete-Davila in Mexico and offered him immunity to testify against the two agents. We understand the need for the department to police the actions of its own employees, but somehow we liked to think that Homeland Security personnel were actually securing the homeland – not out making deals with foreign smugglers.
I'll be surprised if it happens. The prosecutor of this case is a close personal friend of Bush . His actions in this case indicates that he is protecting drug dealers and smugglers rather than acting in the interest of this country. This seems to be the direction the whole Bush administration is going. Some of the drug cartel money must be getting through to people in high places.
THANK YOU for those pictures!!!
Pictures from the Rally:
http://www.campominutemen.com/photos.aspx
Page 2. "Compean Press"
This is one time Congress should have an investigation into the Justice Department (and AG Alberto Gonzales) to find out why those charges were instigated.
This should be done BEFORE any pardon is requested.
Why did the Justice Department go after these 2 Border Agents?
ramos and compean ping
Radar, you left out a very important part of this whole story. The smuggler was granted immunity by the US attorney in order for him to testify against the agents. Before the trial he was arrested a second time smuggling a large amount of drugs into the country. He was granted immunity a second time by the same US attorney. Smells of collusion with the drug dealers, doesn't it?
http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/zieve/060713
It is unfortunate that there are U.S. Border Patrol Officers who, through a quirk of law, are U.S. citizens but whose loyalties, culture and mores are of and to a foreign nation. I am referring specifically to Mexico. We currently have Border Patrol Officers who were raised, educated and indoctrinated in Mexico. They regard themselves as Mexican first and their loyalties are to Mexico. They regard their mission as Border Patrol Officers as primarily to assure the safety of their fellow countrymen while they illegally enter the United States. This is why we have a history of Border Patrol Officers working for the Mexican human and drug smuggling cartels. Being raised in Mexico and having friends and family there, they have a support network to use when they get crosswise with U.S. law. Of course, when they get caught, they flee to Mexico where they have family and friends.
US Border Patrol Supervisor David Stoddard. Mr. Stoddard spent 27 years in the Border Patrol
Many Americans are coming to that same conclusion. There's something wrong with the picture when an invading drug smuggler goes free and then sues America while two men doing their jobs get sentenced to prison. They should be hailed as heroes instead.
Here's what Dobbs said the white house response was.
WIAN: During today's rally, Congressman Rohrabacher's office received a lengthy response from the White House.
Among its claims, the White House says, while the sentence may -- the sentences of the two agents may seem harsh, the agents, in the White House's view, used excessive force. And the White House says they received a fair trial -- Kitty.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/21/ldt.01.html
According to some of the jurors, they did not feel the trial was fair.
Sentencing looms for agents, jurors say they were misled
Agents’ lawyer seeks new trial in shooting case
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
Three members of the jury that convicted two former El Paso Border Patrol agents of shooting a drug smuggler in the buttocks last year said they were misled into finding them guilty, according to a motion filed late Tuesday, two days before the agents are to be sentenced.
http://hecubus.wordpress.com/2006/10/18/ignacio-ramos-and-jose-compean-illegal-immigration-heroes/
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