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Bush open to idea of pardon for former U.S. Border Patrol agents who shot Mexican drug dealer
AP ^ | Jan 18, 2007

Posted on 01/18/2007 4:34:51 PM PST by jdm

WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush left open the possibility of a pardon for two U.S. Border Patrol agents serving federal prison sentences for shooting a Mexican drug dealer as he fled and covering up the crime.

Bush said "there's a process for pardons" and the case has to work its way through the system. In an interview with KFOX-TV in El Paso, Texas, Bush said the White House will review the case, and he urged people to "take a sober look at the case."

"People need to take a tough look at the facts, the evidence a jury looked at, as well as the judge. And I will do the same thing," he said.

Several lawmakers have urged the president to pardon former Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos for the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who retreated to Mexico after he was shot and later admitted he was transporting marijuana while in the U.S. illegally.

The agents began serving their sentences Wednesday — 11 years and one day for Ramos and 12 years for Compean. Both were fired after their convictions on several charges, including assault with a deadly weapon, obstruction of justice, and a civil rights violation.

Rancor over the convictions and sentencing of the agents has been simmering for months, and the two have become a cause celebre among conservatives and on talk shows. Their supporters have said they were defending themselves and have called them heroes. The agents' prosecution occurred as the issue of illegal immigration was being debated in Congress and amid campaigns for last November's midterm elections.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican, introduced a bill Thursday calling for a congressional pardon of the agents. Congress has never issued pardons to anyone convicted of a crime.

(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: border; bush; compean; pardon; patrol; ramos
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To: FreePaul
The Republican controlled congress certainly didn't do anything to help.

The Democratic controlled Congress will wash the word "help" right out of your mind in a hurry.

61 posted on 01/18/2007 7:10:39 PM PST by EGPWS
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To: jdm
"there's a process for pardons" and the case has to work its way through the system.

Odd, I don't don't remember Gerald Ford saying that about Nixon.

That is just the first to come to mind, because it is such a prominent case; not that I disagree with it.

62 posted on 01/18/2007 7:25:21 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: a Satanically Transmitted Disease, spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus.)
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To: pissant

You got that right.


63 posted on 01/18/2007 7:35:30 PM PST by frogjerk (REUTERS: We give smoke and mirrors a bad name)
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To: jmc813
I'm seeing Harriet Miers all over again.

What after she dumped you? ;)

64 posted on 01/18/2007 7:36:52 PM PST by frogjerk (REUTERS: We give smoke and mirrors a bad name)
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To: Extremely Extreme Extremist; jdm; Jim Robinson
"The Mods are smoking on this thread."

Just as I suspected. Zotting is like having sex.

65 posted on 01/18/2007 7:39:56 PM PST by NicknamedBob (My tuner doesn't have good taste the way it used to!)
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To: jdm
Not only should they be pardoned , but the Border Patrol should rehire them, and put them together with a Deuce .50 cal mounted on a 4WD pick up bed , under orders to patrol the border and do the same thing again!
66 posted on 01/18/2007 8:21:52 PM PST by Candor7 (The hope of the West disappears into liberal flatulance, and who wants to be a smart feller?)
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To: jdm
BTW , Duncan Hunter is seeking nomination as the Republican candidate for POTUS in 2008.

He is a good man, and the best of the lot.

67 posted on 01/18/2007 8:23:13 PM PST by Candor7 (The hope of the West disappears into liberal flatulance, and who wants to be a smart feller?)
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To: John D

It is about time. How much longer is he going to keep these heroes behind bars.

Same question goes for US GI's


Wm


68 posted on 01/18/2007 8:27:43 PM PST by WLR ("fugit impius nemine persequente iustus autem quasi leo confidens absque terrore erit")
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To: Jorge

You'd prefer the Border Agents look the other way when they see a drug smuggler running after told to stop? There is something wrong with the way our government seeks out a drug smuggler across the border and gives him immunity to testify against our USBP agents, one of whom had been named Agent of the Year. Unless there is intent to keep the border open so that they cheap labor keeps flooding across the border, this was another bungled act by the federal bureaucracy. Good way to curtail border agent recruitment and encourage more drug runners.


69 posted on 01/18/2007 10:16:47 PM PST by parousia
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP
These agents did some very underhanded things, they covered up evidence, knew the perp was unarmed and they fired 12 rounds from their shot guns into the back of the suspect as he tried to flee.

That's what I've read about this case as well. 

70 posted on 01/19/2007 12:15:35 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (There is no alternative to the GOP except varying degrees of insanity)
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To: Earthdweller
The House and the Senate need to get back to this issue as soon as possible. It's undercurrent is like a rope pulling everything else down.

Seeing as how everyone abandoned the GOP in droves and elected a Dem Congress, I hardly suspect the Democrats are going to really care about this issue, since they've never really given a damn about it in the first place, and their voter base sides with the illegals. 

71 posted on 01/19/2007 12:18:10 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (There is no alternative to the GOP except varying degrees of insanity)
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To: EGPWS
The Democratic controlled Congress will wash the word "help" right out of your mind in a hurry.

Fixing the border problem ain't even on the Democrats list of things to do in the first 100 hours or days or whatever the hell they're calling it.

72 posted on 01/19/2007 12:21:39 AM PST by BigSkyFreeper (There is no alternative to the GOP except varying degrees of insanity)
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To: Jim Robinson

The sarcasm is strong in you.


73 posted on 01/19/2007 12:25:14 AM PST by Petronski (Who am I and why am I here?)
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To: PSYCHO-FREEP
I viewed the evidence that was presented to the Court about these agents and I side with the court's decision. These agents did some very underhanded things, they covered up evidence, knew the perp was unarmed and they fired 12 rounds from their shot guns into the back of the suspect as he tried to flee.

I read that they shot 15 rds from their 9mms. One agent shot 14 times the other shot once and he was the one who hit the illegal. Are you sure you read the evidence?

74 posted on 01/19/2007 12:31:49 AM PST by TigersEye (If you don't understand the 2nd Amendment you don't understand America.)
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To: HarmlessLovableFuzzball

SUddenly Bush is "on top of" this case, when he risks being made to look REAL bad because of it. As I predicted hours ago on another thread, the WH would evaluate how much political damage might come their way over this, then initiate a offer/counter-offer process , continually running it up the flagpole to assess relative risk here and there. Too little too late. Instead of pardoning the BAs , maybe the first order of business SHOULD be to explain just HOW this thing developed, WHY agents went down to find this criminal creep and OFFER HIM AMNESTY in order to indict the BAs. Just WHAT considerations are operative there? THAT is where he should start,but neither he nor anyone else will start, or end there.


75 posted on 01/19/2007 12:33:02 AM PST by supremedoctrine ("Talent hits a target no one else can hit, genius hits a target no one else can see"--Schopenhauer)
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To: Jorge

More half-assed "facts" from the incomparable Jorge.
1. Border agents are, by the nature of their jobs, called on to be to a degree directly tied to action, BOTH judge and jury, in the sense of assessing probable cause for pursuit,etc.
2. Part of the case AGAINST them is that they didn't know the guy was smuggling drugs, so that is a REALLY bad point also.
3. The shot numerous times, obviously from a distance, and there was NO execution. The smuggler got some shot in his buttocks. Obviously he was "hurt", but I am sure within days he was walking around, with medical attention courtesy of the USA, proud as punch of his new role as VICTIM OF OVERZEALOUS AMERICAN ASSASSINS.


76 posted on 01/19/2007 12:39:52 AM PST by supremedoctrine ("Talent hits a target no one else can hit, genius hits a target no one else can see"--Schopenhauer)
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To: pissant

I hope GW issues a pardon eventhough it's pretty evident from hearing the facts that the agents could have withheld their fire as they were not fired upon and the illegal guy was running away. I think they must have been really stressed after chasing him. Anyways, there could have been a number of other ways to handle it without a trial. Those guys have a very hard job and are at risk of harm everyday.


77 posted on 01/19/2007 12:42:56 AM PST by fabian
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To: Petronski
They spent the last two years or more bashing Bush and the Republicans all over the Net and the right-wing media. The Net and right-wing media (not just FR) is more powerful than they may realize. After years of non-stop Bush bashing and aiding and abetting the Dems and the MSM, not to mention aiding and abetting the jihadists, should it be any surprise whatsoever that the weak-kneed and mushy middle was not motivated to pull the "R" lever? There should be no surprise at all that we're now going to be living under the Democrat thumb for the next few years. Also not surprisingly, the Democrats are obviously not going to do them any favors for any of the issues near and dear to all of our hearts. This was a major blunder in political thinking.

The Bush/Republican bashers will now suffer along with the rest of us. Only, I don't think they're gonna see the error in their ways. Continued Bush/Republican bashing will only ensure that the Democrat majority is strengthened and we'll see a Democrat in the White House next term. God help us if people don't come to their senses.
78 posted on 01/19/2007 12:44:36 AM PST by Jim Robinson
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To: Jim Robinson
God help us if people don't come to their senses.

Cronkite's lies about Tet convinced a lot of good people about Vietnam, and most of them still have not come to their senses.




BTW, Krankheit (pronounced Cronkite) is the German word for "sickness."

79 posted on 01/19/2007 4:12:46 AM PST by Petronski (Who am I and why am I here?)
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To: Jorge

"These agents did some very underhanded things, they covered up evidence, knew the perp was unarmed and they fired 12 rounds from their shot guns into the back of the suspect as he tried to flee.

Thank you. Nice to read comments from somebody who actually knows something about the case."

What I know about the case is that an illegal trying to deliver $1,000,000 in drugs was shot in the butt resisting arrest and fleeing tghe scene. He is free and the officials who tried to arrest him are in jail.

I really don't need to know any more than that. Bush is not doing his job, again.


80 posted on 01/19/2007 8:32:27 AM PST by Jim Verdolini
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