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."
There is also nothing conservatie about disregarding the constitutional power of Pardon.
Just what we need. More sheeple.
Don't tell me what to do, I'll post to you anytime I feel like posting to you Mr. You don't rule around here or any other place I hope
Remember the punchline "No honey it's your hipsthat make you look bad." Well I would propose that be applied here. "Because President Bush's failed border policy makes him look bad, Feinstein is on this."
Bush has lost it, totally. When moonbats like Feinstein get to the right of him, it's over. I think he is taking orders from the handlers daddy sent to protect him.
Yes, Conservatives are about the only ones who are backing these Border Patrol Agents in this shooting of a drug smuggler. But, if it had been the other way around. If the drug smuggler had shot a Border Patrol Agent, been arrested and charged with the shooting on as flimsy evidence as was used by Sutton, the ACLU would have had him sprung before the sun went down. Liberal Democrats would have been up in arms over one of their constituents being unjustly accused and would have called for a full investigation of the entire affair.
But, alas, it was only law enforcement officers who were railroaded, and no one gives a damn except a few Conservatives. Makes you wonder what kind of country we now live in.
Reports are that the jury was tainted.
Appeal process? Yes, but not while the agents are in prison among the very people they took an oath to arrest!
This case is a cause celebre among conservatives because it is so clearly a travesty of justice.
Where did I do all that?
Most of the noise I hear is from our fringier elements,
I nauseate you, remember? Are you a glutton for punishment?
You don't rule around here
I concur.
Ok, you win, I won't post to you anymore. Your wit and intellect is just too much for my pea brain
ping
I said or implied nothing of the sort.
Either debate the case or stop posting to me about how you don't want to post to me, please.
Bush doesn't need Feinstein to make him look bad. He's doing perfectly well on his own.
Ping!
Looks like Sutton's a buddy of Bush, so there will be no pardon.
Bush opposes the agents.
Ergo...
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