Posted on 01/17/2007 4:24:55 PM PST by Mr. Mojo
(CNSNews.com) - As two U.S. Border Patrol agents surrendered to federal marshals Wednesday afternoon to begin serving more than a decade in jail for shooting an illegal drug smuggler, a federal lawmaker and conservative advocacy group expressed outrage at President Bush for not pardoning the men.
"This is the worst betrayal of American defenders I have ever seen," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said of the president.
"It's shameful this was done by someone who is in the Republican Party," the California Republican added in comments coinciding with the jailing of agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.
Rohrabacher said Bush "obviously thinks more about his agreements with Mexico than the lives of American people and backing up his defenders."
Ramos and Compean reportedly handed themselves over to the U.S. Marshal's office in El Paso, Texas, early Wednesday afternoon, facing the prospect of 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively, for a string of offenses including the use of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.
Steve Elliott, president of the conservative group Grassfire.org, also lashed out at Bush on Wednesday.
The American people "have a vivid picture of where the Bush administration really stands on border security," Elliott charged in a news release.
He described the crimes committed by Ramos and Compean as "so-called civil rights violations against an illegal alien drug smuggler who has been smuggling drugs into this country for years and was smuggling 743 pounds of marijuana at the time of the confrontation."
Elliott also argued that the U.S. attorney's office did not have to pursue the case, prosecute the men, "take the word of an illegal alien drug smuggler over that of our border agents" or give the illegal alien immunity.
"President Bush could have spoken out publicly in support of these agents and how their incarceration could further cripple our border security efforts," he added.
Instead, Elliot said, "when it came time to stand and be counted on the side of our border agents, the president's administration chose to side with a career illegal alien drug smuggler."
As Cybercast News Service previously reported, Ramos and Compean encountered Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila while on duty on Feb. 17, 2005. When they tried to stop him, he fled and was shot and wounded. Aldrete-Davila was treated at a hospital in El Paso and then returned to Mexico.
After learning of the shooting, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton sought out Aldrete-Davila in Mexico and offered him immunity from prosecution if he would return to the United States to testify against Ramos and Compean.
Sutton later defended the decision, arguing that the agents did not have knowledge of any criminal activity involving Aldrete-Davila at the time they shot him.
Ramos and Compean were charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with serious bodily injury, discharge of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, willfully violating Aldrete-Davila's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure and obstruction of justice for intentionally defacing the crime scene, lying about the incident, and failing to report the truth.
During a press briefing last Friday, White House spokesman Tony Snow addressed the case and criticism at some length.
"According to the facts presented in court, you had an incident in which there was an attempt to pull somebody over. He finally got pulled over; somebody holds out a gun. Sort of scuffling ensues," Snow said.
"And what happens is you've got a fellow running away, and a couple of agents eventually in pursuit, firing 14 shots at him - I think 15, actually. Fourteen by one agent missed, one did strike him in the fleshy hindquarters," he added.
"Now, at the time this happened, they did not know if he was an illegal," Snow continued.
"They did not know that there were 700 pounds of marijuana [in Aldrete-Davila's van]. They didn't know any of those things. But instead you had this. They also had received arms training the day before that said if you have an incident like this, you must preserve the evidence and you must report it promptly," he said.
"Instead, according to court documents, they went around and picked up the shell casings. Furthermore, they asked one of their colleagues also to help pick up shell casings. They disposed of them," Snow added.
Snow noted that a jury convicted the agents on 11 out of 12 counts and defended the government's stance.
"This is not the case of the United States saying, we are not going to support people who go after drug dealers. Of course we are ... we also believe that the people who are working to secure that border themselves obey the law," he said.
RIGHT ON!
Perhaps this kind of event might prevent
that kind of deepseated callousness?
You're a maroon.
And what does Sutton base this on? I don't believe Sutton. BP agents rarely use their guns. It's the testimony of two BP agents (your fellow Americans) against one Mexican druggie. At any rate I don't care if BP agents shoot drug smugglers in the ass. It should happen more often. This would have been laughed out of court 20 years ago when Americans had more common sense and didn't suck up to that corrupt hole named Mexico
Don't you employ illegals? Or is it somneone else?
If my county,state, and federal governments ignore the elephant in the room, why shouldn't I?
Pathetic that you employ illegal aliens. I remember in 1999 you also roundly supported the Albanian Muslims against the Christian Serbs.
On issues like this, I believe that the Elephant is an Ass. Pun intended - both parties have turned away from our national interest.
Because he knows that to do so would bring the facts of the case into public knowledge, and destroy his craven pandering.
lol.
And your point is.....?
The bigger picture is that it sends a chill down all border patrol agents as they perform their job. Knowing Bush's illegal alien stance, he's no friend of the border agents and wants them just where they are.
Abortion and economic factors such as the two income family have done the same to the United States. I would like to see the numbers...how 43 million babies snuffed out since the seventies...how they affected our population and tax base.
The Hispanic tide at least is Catholic...not muslim...so in that sense we're better off than much of Europe.
Therefore, I disagree with your idea of "national interest".
I will work to defeat Sen. Cornyn & Rep McCaul....unless they get involved NOW!
Just browsing the web, I did find this article written in October 2006...perhaps this has already been discussed elswhere:
Jurors say they were misled to convict agents: The problem was that the jurors were under the impression that a hung jury was not an option. Gourley, a special education teacher, and Torres said that the foreman of the jury told them that Cardone would not accept a hung jury. Woods said she heard the same statement but could not remember which juror said it. ... "Essentially, when they saw they could not convince the majority in favor of voting guilty, they conceded their votes, believing that they did not have the option to stick to their guns and prevent a unanimous verdict," Stillinger wrote in the motion.
No one ever asks why if they are so innocent, why they tried to hide what they did. They got lawyers who tried wrap them in the flag to cover up their behavior. Legal or illegal, you don't shoot someone in the back. This country is about due process, not vigilante justice.
The agents were convicted by a jury of their peers. Bush was right to do nothing about it because they are GUILTY. Lets not lose our morality and respect for the law, just because the alien and those who shot him did.
It appears that the bush administration chooses to respect the rule of law as it applies to the Border Agents, but looks the other way when it applies to foreign criminals entering OUR country illegally.
There is a word for this..................
So we send two men to prison for falsifying paperwork when it's done every single day by the Illegals and those who employ them?
I'm sick of this double standard.
sw
Thanks. It was a Witch Hunt sponsored by a U.S. Attorney. I will not argue they did not violate the law as it seems they did. Now let's look at how justice was served and the standards that apply to illegals and the standards applied to U.S. citizens even cops.
After learning of the shooting, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton sought out Aldrete-Davila in Mexico and offered him immunity from prosecution if he would return to the United States to testify against Ramos and Compean.
Added to that what 11-12 counts against them in the case. Couldn't he find more? /sarcasm In such cases usually only the most serious charges of the crime gets prosecuted. Now I do have to wonder just how many times Mr Sutton has gone to Mexico, sought out a Mexican National charged in the U.S. with a felony such as Cold Blooded Murder and brought the person back to the U.S. It doesn't happen. Even when a U.S. Bounty Hunter known for non violence goes in Mexico to successfully retrieve a convicted U.S. citizen felon who fled the U.S. after conviction the Bush Administration is about ready to turn such a bounty hunter over to his beloved corrupt business friends government officials of Mexico for a jail term.
Now note the charges.
Ramos and Compean were charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with serious bodily injury, discharge of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence, willfully violating Aldrete-Davila's Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizure and obstruction of justice for intentionally defacing the crime scene, lying about the incident, and failing to report the truth.
Two charges of assault? Just how many times was he shot? Once. Violation of his what? Fourth Amendment right? Uh excuse me but the U.S. Border Patrol and Customs Agents have the power to INSPECT VEHICLES coming into the United States from Mexico? IOW a B.S. charge. Had the perp been a U.S. Citizen the charge should have stuck. Now if I decide to run from my local law enforcement they're gonna have PROBABLE CAUSE to go through my vehicle. IOW again Mr Sutton trumps up a charge and gives the illegal higher standing in a court of law that what is given an American Citizen. Obstruction of Justice? OK I can give him that one. This case in a county court would have at best yielded out a firing and likely less than 5 years maybe even 11-29.
I know of a case where several officers tortured a known drug dealer, made threats to him even to his death, assault, and got less time the longest term was 5 years. That convictiona as well took place in a federal courtroom and involved a U.S. Citizen as the known drug dealer. I'm pretty certain after reading what the drug dealer went through a shot in the sitter and the officers letting him go would have seemed a better offer to him. Those officers lied and covered up a lot more so than these two may have it was an organized conspiracy. Here is that article http://www.wbir.com/news/archive.aspx?storyid=27204
It seems Mr Sutton went well out of his way to form a case. In view of the many thousands of felons who commit their crimes against our citizens and then walk back into Mexico where they can not be touched. Add to this that the man was a repeat offender. Mr Sutton was well out of line giving a man a multi-felon major drug runner immunity for this case. What that man was caught with in this country can lock you away for much longer than those two agents. Their punishment did not fit the crime.
I'm with you.
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