Posted on 07/29/2008 12:22:41 PM PDT by Daniel T. Zanoza
Guest Commentary by Laurie Roth
This week I thought I would lose my mind when I heard of the horrifying decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals against Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. So many of us who had followed this case for the last few years were hoping that once all the evidence had finally been heard, unlike with the first trial, that justice would be done. Wrong!! Justice was not done!!!
You may recall in the first trial that the illegal alien, drug thug Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, who brought 743 pounds of marijuana over our border was given immunity by Prosecutor Sutton to testify against the two agents. I remember hearing Sutton and his cronies implying that the two agents were rogue racists against Mexicans and had shot a poor, desperate illegal alien in the back of the butt while he was running away from them. On and on the distortion, misinformation….ok….lies went on. I had thought from the very beginning that the racist accusations regarding the two agents against Mexicans was fascinating since Ramos and Compean are Mexican-Americans. It was also fascinating that ‘suddenly’ ...
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Any comments yet from Juan McCain concerning this travesty of justice?
The law wasn't misused, it's simply a bad law.
Law enforcement officers should not get special treatment when they break the law.
How is it different if it is a law enforcement officer than a private security guard, or even a private citizen who regularly carries a firearm for self defense.
Keeping and bearing arms is a constitutionally protected right. We should not have laws that increase penalties for crimes if you happen to be exercising one of your constitutional rights at the time you committed it.
USC 924c should be struck down. If it is not struck down, it should apply equally to everyone, regardless of if some legislators say after the fact that they didn't intend for it to apply to law enforcement officers.
I do however agree that the defense was not allowed to properly present their case and crucial information was withheld from the jury.
The two should get a new trial. Though even with a new trial, getting acquitted is hardly guaranteed, especially for Compean. Ramos I'd say has a considerably better chance.
It does seem to me that the DOJ went a bit overboard in making an example of these two after discovering that a shooting was not reported, and even arguably covered up by Compean's actions. However, these two are obviously not completely innocent either.
Muchas Gracias, Jorge El Segundo!!!!!
We do not live in a police state - Now I can agree the length of the sentence was too long.
I have a problem with the gun charge.
If they had reported the discharge of their weapon, might they still be on the job?
Based largely on the perps testimony, they were put away. And there was absolutely no reason to go after the mandatory 10 year sentence for using a gun “in the commission of a crime”. That was Johnny the dirtball Sutton’s call.
AND, they gave the perp full immunity AND never told the jury that their star witness was busted running another load of drugs while awaiting the Ramos/Compean trial. Their perp/star witness had ZERO credibility, yet they built him up as some f****K altar boy (”he was smuggling a load to pa mfor his mama’s medicine”)
This is a damn atrocity.
They can pass legislation demanding a pardon. They should get busy doing just that.
You mean they can pass a resolution (that means non-binding) demanding a pardon. Congress cannot compel the executive branch. The branches are independent.
Of course. They pass resolutions all the time. But it could also be formatted as legislation. Not a pardon, but a removal of funding for their incarceration. Tom Tancredo’s bill.
“Has Bush ever said why he won’t pardon these guys?”
Bush wants to discourage any Border Patrol agent from doing their job all in the name of promoting his NAU(North American Union) with Canada and Mexico. It will pass alot easier in this country if we have 30 million new illegal voting.
“This Congress and this President have been the worst catastrophes to ever afflict the America people.
Its no wonder both their ratings are in the gutter. They should all be fired.”
Stop voting these bast**ds from either party back into office. The only thing they react to is the threat of losing their seat in Congress.
Tancredo’s bill would have failed even if it passed. At least two private prisons here in Texas volunteered to incarcerate them at no expense should the bill have passed.
The blowback to that would be tremendous.
Regardless, the sentence was overboard.
Well, if we're being honest here, we both know that Tancredo knew with absolute certainty that his bill could not and would not pass. He was grandstanding for publicity, and so were the corps that own the private prison. He knew they'd never be released (which would have been bad btw) and the private facilities knew they'd never have to make good on an expensive offer.
If they had reported the discharge of their weapon, might they still be on the job?
You maybe correct about that but I guess we’ll never know now. For sure it couldn’t have made it any worse for them, imo.
Sentence to much. I can agree with that. But so are sentences for thousands and thousands of others.
We do not live in a police state.....But we will very quickly ...if such actions are allowed (for any reasons).
They TOLD their supervisor what happened when he showed up. They did not file the paperwork properly but that is a minor violation. Dismissal, maybe. Prison, no way. All they have to say is that they felt in danger, and they did indeed say that. They were not believed. I read the entire transcript. A slap on the wrist was warranted. End of story.
No. They did not tell their supervisor the truth of what happened (originally) and they also deliberately picked up casings and other evidence as to reflecting how many shots they fired. There is something dead wrong with doing such. Especially when they deliberately chose not to fill out the AAR throughly - They knew not to have a fraudulent paperwork trail to boot -
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