Posted on 08/22/2006 10:48:57 PM PDT by STARWISE
Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have asked for congressional hearings and reviews by the White House and Justice Department into the conviction of two U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot and wounded a fleeing drug suspect.
The agents, convicted by a federal jury in El Paso in March, face 20 years in prison at a sentencing hearing next month.
"It appears the facts do not add up or justify the length of the sentences for these agents, let alone their conviction on multiple counts," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat. "Border Patrol agents have a difficult and often dangerous job in guarding our nation's borders.
"Undue prosecution of Border Patrol agents could have a chilling effect on their ability to carry out their duties," Mrs. Feinstein said in a letter Monday to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania Republican, requesting a full hearing into the matter.
She asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales last week to investigate the case. The U.S. attorney's office in El Paso, which reports to the Justice Department, prosecuted the two agents.
In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, asked the White House to review the case, saying the prosecution was "outrageous." He said it did nothing but "tie the hands of the Border Patrol and prevent the agency from securing America against a flood of illegal immigrants, drugs, counterfeit goods and, quite possibly, terrorists."
"This demoralizing prosecution puts the rights of illegal smugglers ahead of our homeland security and undermines the critical mission of better enforcing immigration laws," Mr. Jones said. "These two agents should not be made scapegoats for our government's enforcement failures."
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Yes, I think they had the van and the drugs. The whole thing sucks, IMO and that jury was likely comprised of people who were not huge supporters of the BP.
Hopefully this will be overturned.
Yeah, this one has to be taking a huge toll on morale.
Department of Homeland [IN]Security.
That says it all.
F'n, PC, idiot, Chertoff, should have been fired a long time ago and he is yet another of W's very poor appointments.
Must NOT offend any illegal aliens (even scumbag drug dealers) and better to hang a couple of heroic BP agents for doing their jobs, to make a point that "we" are a compassionate and fair Republic, than send a message that we won't tolerate any such nonsense.
Of course, anyone here knows (or most of us who aren't existing in a delusional world of "My President--Right or Wrong") that W has no intention of securing our borders and is/has been extremely hypocritical in this matter, therefore, no one should expect any help from the White House of DHLS.
What I don't understand, is that any time an LEA mistakenly shoots someone he/she believes was pointing a weapon at them (even children) they are usually given the benefit of the doubt as it is considered that they acted in self-defense and believed their life was in danger.
How is it in this case, the BP Agent was not believed? Something smells here and it looks like a case of an over zealous Feeb prosecutor who perhaps swayed the jury?
Last but not least, while I have read about this ridiculous "regulation" which prohibits BP Agents from firing at fleeing criminals, I have yet to hear any detailed info about it. Has anyone else?
Of course, there's no way the good Senator would make the statement if she replaced "Border Patrol" with "Marines serving in Iraq".
"tie the hands of the Border Patrol and prevent the agency from securing America against a flood of illegal immigrants, drugs, counterfeit goods and, quite possibly, terrorists."
I wouldn't expect the Admin to be much help. They are more the cause rather than the solution.
ping
To my understanding the only officers that can shoot fleeing criminals are prison guards and US Marshals. This is because their cases have already been adjudicated by a court.
All other LEOs operate under strict use of force guidelines.
1 To protect themselves against death or grievous bodily harm.
2 To protect their partner against the same.
3 Or to protect an innocent 3rd party.
This case appears to come down to whether the agent (using the reasonable person standard) believed the suspect was pointing a gun at him. I find it difficult to believe that a jury (who was not there) substituted their own judgment as to what the agent saw and believed.
Had they reported the shooting through proper channels none of this would have happened. I hope this get overturned on appeal.
A jury full of the "Blame-America-First" crowd I presume?
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