Posted on 02/10/2007 2:05:41 PM PST by TheeOhioInfidel
For an agent of the Mexican government, Johnny Sutton speaks pretty good English.
That's the title anti-immigrant zealots hung on the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas after prosecutors in his office convicted ex-Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos of shooting 15 times at an unarmed suspect who was running away.
Sentenced to 12 years and 11 years in prison, the former agents are behind bars.
Because the defendants were once Border Patrol agents and because the convictions relied on testimony from the victim - a Mexican drug smuggler who got immunity - the prosecutors have become absolutely toxic in the minds of those who think an invasion is under way and that Border Patrol agents are the sentries against the tide.
Hence the accusation by some that Sutton - along with his bosses, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and President Bush - has become an agent of the Mexican government.
"We just evaluate the facts," Sutton said. "We don't get to choose the facts. We don't get to choose the witnesses. We just have to decide whether a crime was committed and whether it's appropriate that it be prosecuted."
According to the evidence presented at the trial, including the agents' testimony and their statements after the incident, here are the facts.
On Feb. 17, 2005, about 1 p.m., Compean and Ramos were on duty along the U.S.-Mexico border when they observed a suspicious vehicle - a van that turned out to be loaded with 700 pounds of marijuana.
The driver - later identified as Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila - jumped out of the vehicle and tried to run back into Mexico.
Ramos and Compean testified they made a point of looking at the suspect's hands and saw no weapon. Compean fired at least 14 rounds and Ramos fired once.
Ramos wounded the suspect and saw him limp into Mexico. The agents collected the shell casings and filed false reports, trying to cover up the incident.
The case has become a cause célèbre for radio talk-show hosts, anti-immigrant groups, congressional Republicans, Minuteman vigilantes and cable television talkers with a knack for turning ranting into ratings.
The convictions also have been sucked into the wind tunnel of the immigration debate and turned Republican hard-liners into bleeding hearts.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, wrote a resolution demanding that Bush pardon Compean and Ramos.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach, has called Bush a "disgrace" and someone who is "on the side of our enemies."
Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Solana Beach - who used to be a lobbyist for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a nativist organization that wants to limit even legal immigration - quipped that, since Bush wants amnesty for 12 million illegal immigrants, he should simply add two more names to the list.
Basically, Bilbray lumped together former Border Patrol agents with illegal immigrants. What would the two have in common? Only Spanish surnames.
Apparently, you can take the congressman out of the nativist group but you can't take the nativism out of the congressman.
I asked Sutton about the insistence by some that this case illustrates the contempt the Bush administration has for border security and the Border Patrol.
"I don't take it too seriously," he said. "I'm a federal prosecutor in charge of prosecuting drugs and immigration for 660 miles of Mexican-Texas border. I'm in the business of locking up illegal aliens who come across and drug smugglers who come across, and so I work with Border Patrol day in and day out."
Sutton said he has a lot of respect for the Border Patrol and its responsibilities.
"They do have a very, very hard job," he said. "And 99.9 percent of them are out there doing it right, abiding by the rules in these very stressful situations, and they're doing just fine. But when you're in those kinds of high-stress situations, you can make big mistakes."
By all accounts, these agents made big mistakes. The same goes for those who are shamelessly using this sad case to advance their own agendas.
"It's just so rare that you have a situation like this," Sutton said. "But (Border Patrol agents) are human beings, and sometimes, just like anyone else, they're going to step over the line, and if they commit crimes, just like everybody else, they're not above the law."
Bush has said he will examine the case and determine if a pardon is warranted.
It isn't.
Navarrette is a columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune. His e-mail address is ruben.navarrette@uniontrib.com.
Well said. What we need to be outraged at is the pardoning of a foreign drug pusher in order to prosecute two American citizen Border Patrol agents. People aren't sufficiently outraged at the very idea of foreigners pushing drugs here. Why are we so "understanding" of such low lifes when they get winged by an LEO? That's the whole basis of prosecution. A foreign dope pusher with a minor bullet wound to the butt
I read my post again... I did not blast you. And no, I'm not upset nor do I feel guilty about anything.
I questioned you reaching a conclusion based on the limited information presented in this article because 1) the article posted had a very large "BARF ALERT" written next to it (which should have been a clue) 2) Ruben Navarette is a well known Leftist COLUMN Writer, not a news source (Yes, even leftists get their works posted at FR--that doesn't mean you should believe them!) and 3) there have been at least 100 threads on the border agents posted, many of them with facts (from both sides of the issue), and others that *twist* the information to misrepresent the truth (this one clearly falls in the latter category).
As I said... please do some more research.
Send you more information? There is way too much, but start here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/keyword?k=borderagents
Basically, Bilbray lumped together former Border Patrol agents with illegal immigrants.
I agree. The border patrol agents don't deserve to be lumped in with the criminal aliens flooding across our southern border on a daily basis.
Interesting--thanks for posting. I remember reading (I think) that Compean said something like "it was reflex"... or habit... and that it was his common practice when at the shooting range to pick up his spent casings. It is also interesting to note that after 5 years on the job, Compean had never shot at anyone before this incident.
I tried to find where I read that, to no avail.
The Constitutional Power of a President to Pardon is explicit. A "Pardonable Offense" is whatever the President says it is.
Well then, that changes things, doesn't it?
Well, if this story is correct, some people do.
And this one, too.
We will just have to keep digging for nuggets of fact among all the BS.
For the life of me, I can't understand why the President is dragging his feet in pardoning these guys, knowing just as well as we do, the danger they are in.
I'd much rather see them exonerated than pardoned. While a pardon would be expedient, it still carries the taint of guilt. A pardon would also allow all of the other deeds to be swept under the rug--the overzealous prosecution, lies from the OIG, etc. I want these people investigated and prosecuted! Unless they clean this up, the border patrol will be neutered from doing their jobs, for fear of their own government!
Okay... I'm off my soapbox, lol. I agree... digging for facts is the name of the game. I certainly never expect to find them in a Navarrette article, though. LOL.
"I don't trust them anymore, I just can't figure out why the press would!"
Because carrying a gun is a conservative type thing. Remember, most of the leftists WANT guns banned from the public.
Check it out. I bet the DA is a democrat.
Amen Brother.
Oh, I should have listed my order of priorities:
1) Immediate transfer to a minimum security (club-fed type) prison.
2) Favorable 5th circuit ruling on appeal to remain free on bond pending appeal
3) Full investigation.... Skinner, Sanchez&Sanchez, etc.
4) Appeal
Well, you get the idea. LOL.
As to Navarrette, looking for anything other than the Aztlan view is probably wasting your time. And some people questioned my use of the word "twist".
ditto. ;-)
Yeah, what's up with that? I've always just considered myself a conservative not beholden to any party, but man who would want to ever vote for a pro-illegal Dem crew like that. What do you figure - 98% of Dems and 33% of GOP love illegal immigration?
A typical Ruben Navarrette la Raza piece.
Do we know what was presented at trial? Really? Love to know.
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