Free Republic

SAN ANTONIO – Over the past month, KSAT 12 has been investigating the relationship between the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office and the Wren Collective, a criminal justice reform group based out of Austin. KSAT 12 originally unearthed hundreds of pages of text messages between Gonzales, his staff and the founder of the Wren Collective, Jessica Brand, through a public information request. Now, we’ve obtained more than 400 pages of emails between Brand and Gonzales’ personal email that suggest Brand played a larger role at the DA’s office than Gonzales has admitted. Since our first report on Jan. 30, Gonzales...

Manhattan’s newly sworn-in district attorney reportedly told his staff he does not intend to prosecute several crimes, including resisting arrest. At the same time New York City’s newly sworn-in mayor is pledging to crack down on surging crime. Alvin Bragg, a former federal prosecutor sworn in as Manhattan District Attorney on Jan. 1, sent guidance to his office calling for the "decriminalization/non prosecution" for crimes including marijuana possession, turnstile jumping, trespassing, resisting arrest, interfering with an arrest and prostitution.

WASHINGTON — Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, has asked the White House for documents about some of President Trump’s most scrutinized actions since taking office, including the firing of his national security adviser and F.B.I. director, according to White House officials. Mr. Mueller is also interested in an Oval Office meeting Mr. Trump had with Russian officials in which he said the dismissal of the F.B.I. director had relieved “great pressure” on him. The document requests provide the most details to date about the breadth of Mr. Mueller’s investigation, and show that several aspects of his inquiry are...

Yesterday I posted about how Alan Dershowitz alleged that Zimmerman prosecutor Angela Corey called up Harvard Law School complaining about Dershowitz and treatening to sue for libel based on Dershowitz’s criticisms of her handling of the case. The whole incident seemed strange, and reflected conduct that should be off limits for any prosecutor and certainly for a senior prosecutor on a high profile case. It appears, however, that the Dershowitz incident was no isolated incident. According to Ron Littlepage, a columnist for the (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, Corey has done this several times before: "Last December when I wrote a column...

President Bush, who apparently uses the same pen for veto’s and pardons, has given out 14 and commuted the sentences of 2 others. All were pretty much low level scumbags who pretty much hurt no one but themselves, but what about the border agents? Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., noted that the list also did not include former Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who were convicted of shooting a drug smuggler and trying to cover it up. Ramos and Compean are each serving sentences of more than 10 years for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks while...

Black Leader Condemns Bush for Not Pardoning or Commuting Sentences of Jailed Border Agents During Pre-Thanksgiving Round of Executive ClemencyWashington, D.C. - Project 21 Chairman Mychal Massie is condemning President Bush’s inaction regarding incarcerated Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean and is reiterating his call for a pardon or commutation of the agents' sentences before the President leaves office in January. Massie’s call comes as the White House has announced that President George W. Bush granted pre-Thanksgiving pardons to individuals involved in the distribution of drugs and bank embezzlement and commuted the sentences of two men given...

- - Tonight an outrageous move from the White House, President Bush pardoning 14 people, including drug dealers. But not former border patrol agents Ramos and Compean. DOBBS: President Bush today granted 14 pardons and he commuted two prison sentences. Five of those given clemency were convicted of serious drug charges. In what is an outrageous miscarriage of justice, former border patrols Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean serving lengthy prison sentences were not included on the president's list. They are serving those sentences for shooting and wounding an illegal alien drug dealer who they were pursuing and who was given...

Friends Of The Border Patrol Report offers Change #1 to newly elected administration and Congress Chino, CA – Friends of the Border Patrol has released a report uncovering corruption and security compromises within the government titled “Unjustifiable and Impeachable: The FOBP Report on DHS, DOJ, and the Courts. Andy Ramirez has authored this report with a section featuring 50 Exhibits documenting compromises, corruption and unconscionable incidents that go back 15 years in some cases. The report contains two volumes, with Volume I authored by Andy Ramirez, and Volume II written by Attorney John Cavicchi, which primarily addresses the court system....

Lou Dobbs Tonight Transcript - Kitty Pilgrim, Guest Anchor 11th Hour Pardons - Ramos & Compean Aired Tuesday, November 18, 2008 Are former border patrol agents Ramos and Compean closer to a presidential pardon? We'll have a special report PILGRIM: President Bush has issued only 157 pardons and commuted six prison sentences during his time in office. And the president still has 63 days left to consider remaining clemency requests and two of those requests are from Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. In a gross miscarriage of justice the two former border patrol agents were convicted of shooting and wounding...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Justice: Mike Nifong weeps at the consequences of persecuting three college kids for a crime they did not commit. Meanwhile, Scooter Libby enters prison for a crime that never occurred. With tears in his eyes, Durham County District Attorney Nifong on Friday announced he was resigning, saying the "community has suffered enough," three members in particular. They would be the three Duke lacrosse players vindictively prosecuted by Nifong for the rape and sexual assault of a stripper at a March 2006 party despite evidence they were innocent. But it was too little too late.

WASHINGTON - I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, will be sentenced Tuesday morning in federal court before U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who presided over his trial. The sentencing begins at 9:30 a.m. The judge will inform Libby of his fate, the term of his prison time, if any, and whether he will be remanded immediately to a federal facility. Libby has appealed his conviction and may be allowed to remain free until that appeal is resolved.

The Mexican drug runner whose testimony sent two Border Patrol agents to prison for shooting him in the buttocks brought drugs into the United States more than once, thereby diminishing his credibility as a witness in the investigation, according to a California congressman. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., presented new evidence in a Capitol Hill press conference Wednesday that revealed what he says was U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's deliberate attempt to mislead the public about Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila's involvement in the transport of a second load of drugs in October 2005.[snip].... ....[snip]But the Drug Enforcement Agency found that Aldrete-Davila brought in another...

EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- A former U.S. Border Patrol agent who was convicted of shooting a drug smuggling suspect and then lying about it was beaten by fellow inmates in prison, his relatives and a congressman said Tuesday. Prison officials did not immediately confirm that Ignacio Ramos had been attacked. The convictions of Ramos and fellow former agent Jose Alonso Compean sparked outcry from critics who argued that the men were merely doing their job defending the border against criminals. U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a vocal supporter of the agents and opponent of illegal immigration, criticized the Bush...

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Prosecutors argued in court Tuesday that they should be allowed to speak with Rush Limbaugh's doctors as part the investigation into whether the conservative talk show commentator illegally purchased painkillers. Meanwhile, Limbaugh's attorneys wanted the judge to hold prosecutors in contempt for allegedly giving information to the news media, the Palm Beach Post reported. Limbaugh's attorney, Roy Black, argued that confidentiality between a doctor and patient is a privilege that even criminal investigators cannot penetrate. "They cannot force Mr. Limbaugh to supply their evidence for them," Black said. Assistant State Attorney James Martz said he...