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.
There's a Texas Governor's debate on C-SPAN tonight, maybe they'll get asked a question about this.
LOL. No, the President did not. However, in post 331 there is more data which SHOULD give you emotive release:
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
The long sentences was because the use of their duty weapon to do their job was brought into court as a weapon used during the criminal act of an assault under Federal law which is at least 10 years.
Being they were on duty, it is retarded to begin with.
Thanks for the heads up, BSF!!!
Far be it for a field agent to have all those things in his or her mind in pursuit of a narcotrafficante.
It's the prosecutor who is wrong in this case, not the field agents. He should be prosecuted, as should his two staff members who undertook to prosecute the case.
Or, alternatively, you could build a really big fence about that place and keep 'em at home.
They should have killed the guy, then there would be no issue.
The only time FR posters showed any outrage over this type of thing was when Clinton was President and he got away with murder and coverups and God only knows what else.
I take that back, it's a Senate Debate. Kay Bailey Hutchison , R-TX and Scott Lanier Jameson , Libertarian, Texas.
Amen to that.
Good cover! You're off to watch some conservative TV!
Even though you spend the rest of the day here undermining conservatives every chance you get.
Even your screen name is good cover.
Please enlighten us as to what your juror number was. If you were not on the jury, you do not know all of the facts. Coyotes and smugglers are criminals. Any person that kills a criminal, even under the color of law, must be investigated. If you know specific facts in this case, bring them. Otherwise, you appear to be another person demanding unfettered power over others. And that is unbecoming.
I ain't gonna cheer because they tried, I'll cheer when they finally succeed. Firing 15 shots and missing the target isn't my idea of success.
I perfectly agree.
ping
Right, officers aren't above the same law they enforce.
Schools of Education ordianrily offer the BS, as in Bachelor of Scinece in Education with a major in Math ~ that sort of thing.
A BA or AB has always required a foreign language be studied, and in the very best schools where a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is offered (the ultimate in "artsy fartsy" degrees since it is, in fact, a degree in "art") study in a foreign language is required.
Your typical Engineering degree, originating in a totally different field of discipline than the scineces (Arts and Sciences), usualy has no foreign language requirement, or even credit.
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