Free Republic

As I noted in a post during the Republican convention in September, there was something fishy about the Republicans' use of the slogan "Country First" in the recent campaign. Why not "America First?" We got the answer the other day when the Bush administration continued its attack on the two U.S. Border Patrol agents who were sentenced to long jail terms for shooting and wounding a drug smuggler. The Bush Justice Department continued to go after the men this week and succeeded in an effort to prevent any significant reduction in the sentences of former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose...

DOBBS: And a major setback for one -- for both of the former border patrol agents who are at the center of an outrageous, miscarriage of justice. That story is next. # # Well a judge today refused to overturn Ignacio Ramos' most serious charge in the federal court hearing. This comes even as the appellate court threw out some of his other convictions. Casey Wian has our report from El Paso, Texas. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Former border patrol agent Ignacio Ramos acknowledges supporters as he arrives for re- sentencing at an El Paso, Texas federal...

Tonight a new setback for supporters of the former border patrol agents at the center of an outrageous miscarriage of justice DOBBS: Now developments in the case of former border patrol agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos. A judge today upheld Compean's 12-year sentence for shooting a criminal illegal alien while he was fleeing. and was given immunity to testify against those two border patrol agents while still running drugs, of course. This comes even after some of his other convictions in this case were overturned by an appellate court. Casey Wian has the latest on this case of absolute...

A former Border Patrol agent's lengthy sentence for shooting a fleeing drug smuggler had been described as extreme by his supporters, but a federal judge showed no mercy Wednesday at the former agent's resentencing hearing in El Paso, Texas. The judge upheld Jose Alonso Compean's original punishment and resentenced him to 10 years in prison for his conviction on a charge of using a weapon in the commission of a felony and another two years in prison for assault and other charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. Compean's attorneys plan to turn to the Supreme Court for a review of...

A second former Border Patrol agent who received a lengthy sentence in a case involving the shooting of a fleeing drug smuggler has been resentenced to his original 11 years and a day in prison, as the agents' supporters hold out hope for presidential pardons. Ignacio Ramos got the same sentence two years ago when he was convicted in the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, an admitted, and now convicted, drug smuggler. On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone gave Ramos' partner, Jose Alonso Compean, his original 12-year sentence, 10 years on a charge of using a weapon in...