Posted on 10/19/2006 3:37:27 PM PDT by no dems
Edited on 10/19/2006 4:07:46 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
Ex-border agents sentenced for shooting smuggler
AP
EL PASO, Texas -- Two former U.S. Border Patrol agents were each sentenced Thursday to more than a decade in federal prison for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler and then trying to cover it up.
Ignacio Ramos was sentenced to 11 years and one day, and Jose Alonso Compean was sentenced to 12 years. Both were fired after their convictions on several charges including assault with a deadly weapon, obstruction of justice, and a civil rights violation.
The men, neither of whom spoke in court, will be allowed to turn themselves in Jan. 17.
The agents have proclaimed their innocence in the Feb. 17, 2005, shooting of admitted drug smuggler Osvlado Aldrete Davila.
Aldrete was shot in the buttocks as he fled across the Rio Grande into Mexico after a confrontation with Ramos and Compean. The agents said they shot in self defense, but prosecutors charged that they had no reason to shoot at the fleeing man, who later claimed he was unarmed.
Since their convictions, support for the agents has swelled. Several prominent law makers, including U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House judiciary committee, have even called for a Congressional investigation into the agents' prosecutions.
The union representing most rank and file Border Patrol agents established a legal defense fund. And civilian border watch groups have asked the U.S. Attorney General's office to review the case and throw out the jury's guilty verdicts.
"The U.S. Probation Office in El Paso, Texas, has recommended 20 years -- 20 years away from their wives and their children, and among the type of people they've put behind bars."
Time for a search of the U.S. Probation Office in El Paso...
Do you think not reporting the shooting deserves a decade in prison? (While the illegal drug smuggler gets millions. I know that's not 'supposed' to be part of the equation, but the big picture is what the public sees and is repelled by. It reeks of unfairness.)
Worst comeback to being proven a liar EVER.
So why are you taking the side of the scum-sucking drug smuggler?
Considering that a civilian would likely get two decades, I'm saying the cops got off very lightly.
Please provide what post BeHoldAPaleHorse "takes the side of the scum-sucking drug smuggler" -- I definitely missed that one.
If you've missed it, it won't do any good to point it out to you.
Sure does.
Article Launched:10/13/2006 12:00:00 AM PDTIn an eleventh-hour plea, a half-dozen congressmen are asking the Justice Department to review the federal law used to convict two Border Patrol agents of shooting a Mexican drug smuggler.
Rep. Walter B. Jones, R-N.C., circulated a letter Thursday among his colleagues that slammed federal statute 924(c), which addresses discharging a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. Conviction under the statute carries a minimum 10-year sentence in federal prison.
Jones and five other members of the caucus - including Reps. Gary Miller, R-Diamond Bar, Dana Rohrbacher, R-Huntington Beach, and Ed Royce, R-Fullerton - contend in the letter that El Paso, Texas, area Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean should not have been charged under the statute because carrying a firearm was a necessary part of their jobs, and that they used the firearms while on duty.
"Yesterday (Tuesday), a motion to delay sentencing for Ramos and Compean was denied. Sentencing is now scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 19," the letter reads. "We urge you to take any action you can to either delay this sentencing or have the ... charges dropped.
"This statute has historically been used in violent crime and drug trafficking cases. It has also been applied to law enforcement when necessary, however, based on past applications of 924(c) to law enforcement, it appears that its application in the present case is unwarranted."
The other two House members who signed the letter were Rep. Darryl Issa, R-Vista, and Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. It then was forwarded to President Bush and Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, which has scheduled hearings on Ramos and Compean's case in late November.
Ramos and Compean fired their weapons while pursuing a Mexican national, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, while he was trying to smuggle nearly 800 pounds of marijuana into the United States on Feb. 17, 2005.
Aldrete-Davila sustained a bullet wound to the buttocks but was able to escape the agents. He later returned to testify against them at trial after being sought out in Mexico by the U.S. Attorney's Office and treated for his wound at a U.S. military hospital.
In March, an El Paso jury convicted Ramos and Compean of 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.
They also were convicted of four counts and two counts, respectively, of obstruction of justice for not reporting that their weapons had been fired. The jury acquitted both men of assault with intent to commit murder.
On Tuesday, Ramos and Compean were denied a sentencing postponement by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso. The agents' lawyers had hoped to delay their sentencing until January, following the congressional hearings and investigation.
Mary Stillinger, Ramos' lawyer, said that the hearings could lead to legislation excluding law-enforcement officers from mandatory weapons sentences meant for criminals.
"They were convicted on a statute that was designed for criminal drug smugglers in the commission of a crime," she said.
Department of Justice officials could not be reached for comment Thursday.
TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union representing more than 11,000 Border Patrol agents, said his organization stands behind the agents and that he will attend their hearing next week.
"I think that's an important loophole that needs to be closed," Bonner said of the 924(c) law's application to law-enforcement officers. "The larger question is why this administration refuses to intervene in the case. Why the rush to put these two men in prison? That's a question on the minds of a lot of Americans."
The conviction for discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence requires a minimum 10-year prison sentence. The sentences for the other convictions vary. On July 25, the U.S. Probation Office in El Paso recommended to Cardone that each man get 20 years.
Since The Sun and its sister newspaper, the Ontario-based Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, first published Ramos' story in August, two jurors have said they regretted their decision and that jury misconduct might have played a role in the agents' convictions.
During the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof spent three days arguing that Ramos and Compean's pursuit of Aldrete-Davila went against the Border Patrol's pursuit policy, which required them to get permission from supervisors before chasing Aldrete-Davila.
Kanof argued that at the time Ramos and Compean pursued Aldrete-Davila, they did not know he had nearly $1 million in marijuana in his vehicle, and thus should not have treated him as a smuggler.
Writer Sara A. Carter can be reached by phone at (909) 483-8552.
I'm not.
These two managed to convict themselves with their actions during and immediately after the shooting.
Theonly thing a law enforcement officer has going for him in court is his credibility. When cops lose their credibility in a case they're prosecuting, that case is going to go to acquittal. If the cop is a defendant and throws away his credibility, he's going to be convicted.
It's a shame that you don't put as much energy into standing for principle even when your Party might be on the wrong track. But then, maybe you have no principles.
I'm a "stalker" because I have a good memory? When have I ever chased you down on a thread, or an unrelated thread?
Damn, what a smokescreen. Cut and run, while accusing me of being a stalker. That's really funny, because it's so pathetic.
Anyone who confronts you with your own posting history is a "stalker."
Yet, you're free to lie with impunity. George Bush supporter, my ass. Your own posts prove otherwise.
Unfortunately, committing felonies is NOT a necessary part of their jobs.
Just imagine being pre-civil rights era, and two officers in Mississipi shooting a "citizen" (not a "resident") and not reporting it.
I know this plays in the series "The Shield"... but uh.
I am sick, what are we going to DO?>?
This president prosecuted them!
"Well, he wasn't REALLY a citizen. I mean, he never voted or anything like that."
Well, we don't tolerate bad cops here in SC, and bragging about the number of bad cops in your area is a little strange.
If you are suggesting that because BeholdAPaleHorse is sharing his/her opinion about "law" and "law officers" -- this constitutes his taking the side of a "drug smuggler", I think your "group-hug" apparatus might be barking up the wrong tree.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.