Posted on 12/03/2006 2:34:33 PM PST by radar101
Fifteen congressional representatives this week urged the outgoing chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to immediately hold hearings in the case of two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler. The congressmen, led by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, and Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., made their plea in a letter to committee Chairman Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.
The group included California Reps. Ken Calvert, R-Riverside, whose district includes Norco, and Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R- Orange, and Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, also signed the letter.
Sensenbrenner could not be reached late Friday for comment.
"The purpose in having this hearing is to shed more light on the facts of what occurred on the border that day," Poe said Friday. "An investigation is necessary to make sure that all the evidence was presented fairly, without a hidden agenda."
With Democrats taking control of the Senate and House on Jan. 3 - including chairmanship of all committees - supporters of the agents believe time is of the essence for Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, who are expected to surrender Jan. 17 for incarceration.
Ramos and Compean were sentenced Oct. 19 to 11 and 12 years, respectively, in federal prison after being convicted earlier this year in the non-fatal shooting of Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila. Aldrete-Davila was shot as he ran away from the agents near the Rio Grande in February 2005.
Since the Daily Bulletin first reported the agents' story in August, several congressional leaders have pleaded for an investigation into the case. Poe and Jones have sent four letters to President Bush, one to White House press secretary Tony Snow, and three to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, all to no avail.
Gonzales said Thursday on a national radio show that he never saw the letters.
"For the attorney general to say such a thing is unbelievable," Jones said, adding that Congress may pass a continuing resolution to hold hearings in February.
During the past four months, grass-roots organizations around the nation have collected more than 200,000 signatures asking the president to review the agents' case and grant them pardons.
Texas Democratic Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Silvestre Reyes, both of whom sat on Sensenbrenner's committee, also called for a congressional investigation at the Aug. 17 hearing.
However, Reyes, who was appointed chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on Friday, flip-flopped on his decision to hold hearings, saying Friday that he would not interfere with a jury's decision and saw no evidence of prosecutorial abuse in the agents' case.
Patty Compean, Jose Alonso Compean's wife, said she is optimistic the letter written by Poe and Jones will compel congressional leaders to hold hearings before the new Congress is convened.
"I am very hopeful, and I am very grateful that they haven't forgotten us," she said. "This wasn't just a political move. People actually care and believe in my husband and (Ramos)."
Former U.S. Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos, left, is consoled by an unidentified man outside the U.S. Federal Courthouse, Thursday in El Paso, Texas.
Jose Alonso Compean
Idiot.
There is more to this case than we are being told. It was reported By Andy Rameriz, on a radio show that each of these men has over 100 drug busts in their career.
......but I could be wrong
"Interesting, Reyes is a former Border Patrol Agent."
Yes, but he's a democrat first.
Bush should pardon these two men
Bush could have stopped this nonsense a long time ago. Don't hold your breath. This is as stupid as the bounty hunter case.
We should be calling our Congressmen to support these hearings. I'll be calling tomorrow.
ping
Bush should pardon him, immediately! In fact, he already should have. This just goes to show you who he really supports, and it's NOT Americans. It's Mexicans from Mexico.
There have been Border Patrol Agents that worked for the smuggling cartels. An Agent being an open borders stooge isn't that far out of the realm of possibilities.
Somehow, I don't think you'll find 100 drug busts in it. Or any commendations. Until proven otherwise, I am going to assume that his considerable family fortune has narcotraficante origins.
He was and is paid to look the other way.
No he will not and for the same reason he supports amnesty. He does not want to alienate the hispanic community.
It would be interesting to review exactly who got busted, when they got busted, and who the bustee was working for.
When LEOs who are on the shooting response team, know the rules for reporting a LEO shooting dead cold, and then violate every damn one of those rules regarding how to handle their own shooting, I get extremely suspicious. Cops who file false reports and conceal/destroy evidence are usually up to nothing good.
Do you support a pardon for Lon Horiuchi?
I thought all charges had been dropped against him? I'm not sure why you are trying to connect the two cases anyway? They have nothing to do with each other. Totally different circumstances.
Both cases involved LEOs who used deadly force and then lied about the circumstances.
If you approve of the one lie by a cop, you must approve of the other.
What law enforcement agency did you used to work for?
If you approve of unfair trials involving cops then you must support criminals.
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