Posted on 01/22/2007 8:26:15 PM PST by Kitten Festival
Justice: As the president weighs pardoning two imprisoned Border Patrol agents, the explanation for their prosecution raises more questions than it answers. Is U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton another Mike Nifong or Patrick Fitzgerald?
In response to public and congressional protests against what is perceived as a grievous miscarriage of justice, Bush told KFOX-TV in El Paso, Texas, that he would "take a sober look at the case" of Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.
The two have begun serving prison terms for assaulting a purportedly unarmed Mexican drug smuggler in a February 2005 incident, obstructing justice and violating the Fourth Amendment rights of an illegal alien. We hope Bush will take a long look, for some things about the case just don't add up.
In an interview with World Net Daily, prosecutor Sutton said the agents "shot 15 times at an unarmed man running away" after the smuggler first tried to surrender. Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila ran away only after Compean hit him with the butt of his shotgun.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
"I subscribe to a originalist/textualist interpretation of the Constitution."
Did the invading British soldiers in the War or 1812 have 2nd and 4th Amendment protections?
Who is "We the People"?
I am unaware of the state of the laws of warfare in 1812. For the record "citizens" is a subset of "people," which is why the Founders distinguished between the two.
"He was not re-arrested with more drugs."
Here are two sources that say he was:
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=/Nation/Archive/200612/NAT20061204b.html
"The initial immunity offer covered Aldrete-Davila's illegal entry into the U.S., the drug smuggling and his unlawful flight from the agents to avoid arrest. Sutton expanded the immunity to include a subsequent drug offense, when Aldrete-Davila tried to smuggle another 1,000 pounds of marijuana into the United States."
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=26224
"He showed his gratitude by breaking his immunity agreement in October 2005, when officers say he attempted to smuggle 1,000 pounds of marijuana into America. The prosecution further extended its immunity to this felony and sealed the indictment from jurors."
"I am unaware of the state of the laws of warfare in 1812. "
Ah, but according to your interpretation, they would only be governed by civil law. They weren't citizens, after all. They WERE "people" in the broadest sense. However, they weren't "the people".
"For the record "citizens" is a subset of "people," which is why the Founders distinguished between the two."
No, "Person" may refer to someone who isn't a citizen, but "people" as in "We the People" refers to the Citizens of the United States collectively.
Let's just go back to that beginning in the interest of law and order.
What Sutton should have done was when he KNEW the location of the Drug Smuggler (and he did)..was to issue a warrant for his arrest and extradite him back to the US.
They had the evidence he was a drug smuggler, but chose instead, to make an example of two of our Border Patrolmen in lieu of letting a big time DRUG smuggler go free.
If that didn't send a clear signal that something is rotten in Denmark than nothing does...
Sutton should be fired for making that deal, even if our BP are never pardoned!
sw
You are about as aware of my "interpretation" as you are of what I'm wearing. Is this another one of those penumbra-thingies, or just a strawman?
Yes,
Prosecutros should have psychological screenings. You have egomaniacal lawyers who are drunk with their own power.
Good. I'm tired of the do nothing spineless Republicans having control. I want conservatives running the nation. I am a conservative first. A Republican second. I am a disenfranchised member of the Republican Party. My vote doesn't count. My representatives don't do what they promise when they blow their conservative smoke up my arse and I'm sick of it. So far Tancredo is the only candidate with the intestinal fortitude to say what is on his mind without regard for what the thought police and social engineers think. That alone gets him my vote.
Both Bushes got my votes because they were the lesser of two evils. Neither have the guts to do what is needed to protect the United States of America from our enemies. Pussy-footen around with terrorists is only making them bolder. KILL EM and imprison anyone in this nation that aides and abets our enemies.
You all wish to watch 40 minutes of propaganda this evening? Have fun. In my book there is an old saying, "Money talks and BS walks" and "Actions speak louder than words." Bush's actions are not enough. People aren't against the war on terror. We are against the war the way it's being waged. I for one think that for every attack the followers of Islam wage against American interest we should in turn utterly destroy one of their Holiest sites beginning with Mecca. I also think that anyone that tries to cross our borders illegally should be shot on the spot. No questions asked.
I am tired of watching the nation 200+ years of ancestors have fought and died for being destroyed.
Sorry for the rant.
TANCREDO '08
As far as the Constitution, as Supreme Law of the Land, applying to every person withing its jurisdiction, that's not penumbra-speak.
I think this shows bad faith on the part of the prosecutor. Does anyone thing that the illegal would say anything contrary to what the prosecutor has coached him on? This case stinks to high-heavens.
If Bush doesn't pardon the two agents, then I will agree with the Democrats: George Bush is the worst president we have ever had.
Bush is supposed to be such a Christian, where is his sense of justice? A man's character is judged on his actions, not his rhetoric.
Sign me - Disgusted at our justice system and with President Bush.
Do you know how LIMITED the choices are in the lawyer appointment pool?
It is very likely GWBush appointed him as a part of a mass hiring.
"If "people/persons" only refers to citizens of the United States "collectively" (your term), then why did the Founders distinguish between the two elsewhere in the text?"
A Person is an individual regardless of citizenship. "The people" refers to the citizens as individuals. Simple, no?
"As far as the Constitution, as Supreme Law of the Land, applying to every person withing its jurisdiction, that's not penumbra-speak."
So, it DOES protect an invading army in your world....
If they can't identify the man who ran off, what makes you think this guy is the one? Just because he says so? You are willing to believe the word of a felon, not a prosecutor, the prosecutor only knows what the felon drug running, illegal, lawbreaking SOB told him. There is no PROOF these agents commited any crime except failure to report a shooting which calls for 5 days suspension. This is a railroad job pure and simple, in the name of open borders and a North American Union, it is plain to anyone who can think. Of course the OB crowd has never thought things through or they wouldn't be for open borders.
BS! The proper phrase is "the people", meaning the people of these United States, meaning US Citizens. Blackbird.
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