Posted on 02/01/2007 1:09:51 PM PST by rightalien
CNSNews.com) - The suspected drug smuggler shot by two U.S. Border Patrol agents may sue the federal government for up to $5 million.
Walter Boyaki, the El Paso, Texas-based attorney for Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, told Cybercast News Service Wednesday he was exploring a lawsuit for his client, but he added that no papers have been filed yet in federal court. He was reluctant to go into detail about the complaint other than to say it would accuse the government of negligence.
The conviction and recent imprisonment of the agents has unleashed a storm of controversy, with a number of Republican lawmakers attacking President Bush over the episode.
Boyaki said the reaction had affected him too.
"You ought to see all the right wing nuts that have threatened me and everybody else in this case," he said.
Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean recently began serving their respective prison sentences of 11 and 12 years after being convicted of shooting Aldrete-Davila and trying to cover it up.
The pair encountered Aldrete-Davila in February 2005 in a van later found to contain 743 pounds of marijuana. When the Mexican tried to flee, the agents shot him in the buttocks as he was crossing back over the border.
U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton sought out Aldrete-Davila in Mexico and offered him an immunity deal to return to the United States and testify against the two agents.
Sutton says his office had the responsibility to uphold the rule of law even when it extends to law enforcement agents.
He confirmed that his office is investigating a separate drug charge against Aldrete-Davila that was not part of the immunity deal.
The agents' defense argued unsuccessfully that Compean and Ramos believed Aldrete-Davila possessed a weapon.
Boyaki said Wednesday that under legal precedent, a person does not have to be a citizen to bring a lawsuit.
"They [the agents] violated the law of their procedures," the lawyer said. "You don't get to violate your procedures. Your boss gives you certain procedure follow. Don't violate those procedures. That's negligence."
Boyaki said suing the federal government is not easy because of sovereign immunity.
"You can't sue the government because you don't like them," he said. "I've sued the government. I've done it 500 times. You can sue the government for negligence in certain circumstances. The United States gives you the ability to sue it under statute but very limited waiver of their sovereignty. You do not get a jury. You only get a judge."
Asked why the lawsuit could seek $5 million, Boyaki said the amount was chosen because that's how the procedure works.
"If you sue the government as many times as I do, you know the amounts [you can sue for] are $5 million, $10 million or $50 millions. The numbers only go down. They won't go up. So you pick a number that has nothing do with case and you know you don't have to worry about that again."
They shot the wrong guy.
Not right.
In other news, the weather service is certain that it may rain next week, and local economists are predicting that things may be improving.
I hope he sues, and testifies in a deposition that he was driving the van, because then we could arrest him and prosecute him for the marijuana. After all, he only had use immunity for the BP agent trial.
Two words; Sovereign Immunity.
That's the problem when you use FMJ instead of JHP.
Sue the illegal for smuggling lead, a known and regulated poison, out of the country in his arse!
(Sutton)confirmed that his office is investigating a separate drug charge against Aldrete-Davila that was not part of the immunity deal.
This would be the alleged 2nd incident from October 2005. If the article is correct, it indicates Sutton did not know about such an incident, and is investigating to see if it really happened.
If it did happen, and Sutton did not know, then we would have to find out who was hiding the arrest, and why? We know that the BP agent defense is using the allegation to discredit Sutton and gain sympathy, but it seems a stretch that they would have had friends in the force that would hide this incident just to set Sutton up.
Maybe Davilas made a big deal about having "immunity", showed them some expired immunity papers, and the locals mistakenly accepted his word and let him go.
If so, I can see how that could be morphed over time into the claim that Sutton approved a 2nd immunity, something Sutton's office has denied and for which there is no evidence.
Too bad we gave him immunity. He'd never dare pull this stunt with the threat of jail hanging over his head.
Time for rule ".303" from Breaker Morant.
ping.
Considering how the whole thing's gone so far, doesn't this have a certain artistic perfection?
If it goes to trial, he'll have to present evidence that he was shot, right? As I understand it, the letter from the physician that was used in the BP agents' trial was not on letterhead, and did not contain a signature.
I doubt that will fly.
What's next? Move him to the front of the line for U.S. citizenship? Maybe Senator Al Franken can get him appointed as head of our border patrol.
The world is going nuts I tell ya. :-)
If only the BP agents were better shots.......none of this would have happened.
And of cource, this scum-bag will win, because of the weak willed, lilly-livered cowards in the injustice department will cave to the open border crowd. Something smells of corruption!!
I see you have been looking at the big picture.
!
Aldrete-Davila has a childhood friend who is a Border Patrol Agent, their families are obviously still very close. That is how this whole thing got started, he was the one that got the ball rolling. The BP agent also testified on behalf of Aldrete-Davila and against the othe BP agents.
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