Posted on 02/10/2007 12:32:11 PM PST by NapkinUser
Washington - Former Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos have become famous in conservative circles, in a case which shows the power of talk radio and the blogosphere.
The two agents are serving prison sentences after being convicted of shooting a suspected drug smuggler and trying to cover up the incident. Many lawmakers in Washington are asking President Bush to pardon the agents, who they say were convicted wrongly for protecting the border of the United States against criminal intruders.
The agents were sentenced to 12 and 11 years in prison, respectively.
The calls for an executive pardon and a congressional investigation into the case intensified this week following reports that Ramos was assaulted in a Mississippi prison.
Rep. Tom Tancredo, Republican of Colorado, an ardent critic of illegal immigration who is pondering a run for the White House, spent about an hour with Ramos at the jail on Friday and said he had been severely beaten, with deep bruises along his arm, cuts and bruises on his chest and back, and bruises on his knees.
Ramos told the lawmaker that he had been pummeled and kicked by five or six inmates on Saturday in a planned attack while others watched after they saw him on an episode of the television show America's Most Wanted, Tancredo said. Ramos did not get medical attention until Monday and a CAT-scan showed no brain damage, the lawmaker added.
"This guy should never be walking around in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs, he should be home with his family," Tancredo said, shortly after leaving the prison. "This is a horrible travesty."
Ramos' attorney, David L. Botsford, said that a motion is pending at the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to get bail for Ramos while he plans an appeal.
A similar request was rejected by a district court, said Botsford, a prominent criminal defense attorney in Austin.
The plight of the two Border Patrol officers has become a major cause on conservative talk shows and on Web sites that promote more enforcement against illegal immigration.
The suspected drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, had entered the United States illegally in a van that contained more than 700 pounds of marijuana. The prosecution contends that Compean shot at him 14 times and Ramos fired once, hitting Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks as he tried to run away on foot.
The agents contend that they saw an object in Aldrete-Davila's hands that looked like a gun and that he was pointing it towards them.
Ramos and Compean were convicted a year ago on several charges including assault with a deadly weapon and intentionally defacing a crime scene. Aldrete-Davila was given immunity in the case to testify against the agents and has filed a multi- million dollar lawsuit against the U.S. government.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, said this week that "the sentences in this case are too extreme given the criminal nature of the defendant and his possession of large quantities of drugs."
In a letter to Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, she also said that the "aggressive prosecution of Border Patrol agents has a chilling effect on their ability to carry out their duties and on the morale of all agents."
"Conservatives back two border agents who are in prison"
Not by a long shot is that unanimous. Most of the noise I hear is from our fringier elements, while the phenomena seems to have an emotional life of it's own, many of the calmer conservatives still support the law and order side of this.
Yep. If there's one thing the Mendez and O.J. Simpson trials proved, it's that a jury is never wrong.
/sarc
Is this unprecedented?
sw
These two agents should have NEVER been placed on trial or in jail. It was a kangaroo court that sent them there. All one sided. They need to be released immediately and I hope they sue the hell out of the people that did this to them and win.
should be : Menendez
I don't know the details of his every pardon, do you?
81 of them and probably not a single RINO I'd be willing to bet.
A large majority of Reps are not "calling for Bush to do it".
Although at least one of the Reps you mentioned is calling for Impeachment...which is even MORE ridiculous.
Wow, so I guess that means Pete Williams was really guilty after all.
Statistics aren't "his talking points".
Every now and then Feinstein will morph into a classic old-school Democrat. She's not a moonbat like Boxer is.
Pete Williams? Stay focused on this case or reply elsewhere, please.
"Statistics aren't "his talking points"."
It is when you say the exact same thing, word to word, Sutton said on the O'Reilly Factor and Hannity and Colmes a day later.
I notice you're not debating the truth of the stats, just the reporting of them.
"There is nothing Conservative about disregarding a jury's verdict.
Let the appeal process decide the agent's fate."
I guess that explains the need for the (R) in your tagline.
I was just making a point.
You said: "if their appeal fails, they weren't wrongly convicted". That is what you wrote, is it not? Do you think that there has never been anyone who has had their conviction upheld who later turned out to be innocent?
Of course there has been. Shall we disregard all jury decisions now?
You just won't quit, will you? You nauseate me
LOLOLOL
Quit respecting a jury's felony convictions? No.
You nauseate me.
So, don't post to me.
Sutton also sent a law enforcement officer to jail for shooting at a car who tried to run him over and having one of the bullets hit an illegal alien hiding in the trunk of the car. What a great man.
Ping.
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