Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila
Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila
Posted on 02/16/2007 2:03:23 AM PST by Man50D
WASHINGTON – Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, the Mexican drug smuggler given immunity to return to the United States and testify against two Border Patrol agents, was involved in smuggling a second load of marijuana into the United States after he was given court protection, records have confirmed.
Newly released transcripts of the trial for Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos have corroborated WND reports that the Mexican illegal alien was involved in the second drug case, this one involving a load of marijuana brought into the U.S. in October 2005.
That followed his grant of immunity by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in return for his truthful testimony against Compean and Ramos, who now are serving 11 and 12 year prison terms following their convictions that they shot Aldrete-Davila as he was fleeing back into Mexico.
A number of activist organizations have been so outraged by the agents' predicament for doing what many people believe was no more than their reasonable duties there have been repeated calls to President Bush to issue pardons to the former agents.
As WND also has reported Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., has sponsored a resolution calling for a congressional pardon for Ramos and Compean, and his office confirmed the resolution already has 82 co-sponsors.
The transcripts, which were obtained by WND, include a discussion between the agents' defense attorney, Mary Stillinger, prosecutor Debra Kanof, and Judge Kathleen Cardone, outside of the presence of the jury.
"For instance, let's just start with – not the October load, let's start with this load," Stillinger states matter-of-factly in the discussion.
Stillinger charged Aldrete-Davila lied when he described himself under oath as a drug amateur who only agreed to drive the drugs to a U.S. stash house because of his indigent state:
"But he (Aldrete-Davila) told them (the jury) the story about he's a little mule, and he needed money for his mother's doctor bills, and he needed money to renew his commercial driver's license. He doesn't know who hired him. He doesn't know where the stash house." Stillinger then argued that Aldrete-Davila's second offense revealed him as an experienced drug smuggler:
"In light of the fact that he (Aldrete-Davila) did it again in October, and he personally took the load to the stash house, I think they (prosecution) know that that's a lie." Stillinger argued Aldrete-Davila's statement compromised his grant of immunity, which the prosecution had predicated upon Aldrete-Davila telling the truth. Stillinger continued, mocking statements Aldrete-Davila made about himself under oath which Stillinger claimed were lies, given the second drug offense:
"It goes to the scope of his immunity. One is, he was dishonest back then when he said I'm just a poor little mule. Some guy named Chavo, but I have no idea who he is, hired me. I don't know where the stash house is. Someone was going to meet me and tell me all those things. Those were lies he told back in March." The transcript shows that during the trial conference with the prosecution and defense lawyers, the judge talked about Aldrete-Davila's second offense in an equally matter-of-fact way.
The transcript shows Cardone commenting as follows:
"In other words, all the investigation they've (government) done to investigate this case leads up to him (Aldrete-Davila) coming into the country, and then in October committing this second involvement. Okay? But there's no lying, if that's what we're characterizing it as, until the October incident."
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told WND that the trial transcript now makes clear that "the prime witness against these two Border Patrol agents was involved in another major load of drugs and the prosecution made a conscious decision to keep these facts from the jury."
At the trial, Cardone ruled that Aldrete-Davila was not on trial. She ruled that no reference about the October 2005 drug offense was to be made to the jury and she sealed all records concerning that offense, despite vigorous defense objections that this information not only violated Aldrete-Davila’s immunity grant, but also went to the heart of the defense argument that Aldrete-Davila's testimony was not credible.
Rohrabacher expressed continued outrage that Sutton had decided to grant immunity to an admitted drug dealer so he could prosecute two Border Patrol agents who were trying to apprehend him.
"Once Aldrete-Davila was caught a second time," Rohrabacher told WND, "it unmasks the indefensible nature of the prosecutor's decision to go after the Border Patrol agents. If the jury is not allowed to know about Aldrete-Davila's second offense, then Ramos and Compean did not get a fair trial."
The revelation also "raises questions whether what we're talking about here is two honest Border Patrol agents who stumbled across a drug cartel operation and are being punished for coming up against the power of the cartel," Rohrabacher said. "The second drug incident makes clear that Aldrete-Davila's profession is drug smuggling."
Rohrabacher was harshly critical of both Sutton and President Bush.
"What Ramos and Compean got was a screw job from day one by the U.S. attorney's office in order to send a message to all Border Patrol agents," Rohrabacher told WND. “The message from Sutton was that the President of the United States makes policy on the border, so don't get in the way. If you haven't gotten the message yet, this is an open border."
He said Sutton was running a "public relations campaign," and charged that Sutton's purpose has been to "poison the well of public opinion, calling Ramos and Compean corrupt, when there never were any corruption charges, then suggesting they shot an unarmed man in the back, when we only have (the) drug dealer's word he was unarmed and the medical evidence is that he was not shot in the back."
"In the Ramos-Compean case we have lie after lie after lie coming out of Sutton's office. And now we've got a public relations campaign to protect Sutton because he is a protégé of the president and the president doesn't want to see his career destroyed," the congressman told WND.
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally critical of the prosecution.
"It would now appear that Aldrete-Davila was not some innocent, poor migrant mule bringing narcotics into the United States so he could buy medicine for his sick mother," he said.
"From a reading of the trial transcript, it would now appear that there is at least one more case of bringing drugs into the United States illegally involving Aldrete-Davila," he said.
Poe also felt this information should have reached the jury. "If the jury would have heard about this second instance, it certainly would have affected the drug smuggler's credibility. The drug smuggler was the prosecution's case. This star witness, Aldrete-Davila, had a lot of baggage, no pun intended."
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told WND that the trial transcript now makes clear that "the prime witness against these two Border Patrol agents was involved in another major load of drugs and the prosecution made a conscious decision to keep these facts from the jury."
At the trial, Cardone ruled that Aldrete-Davila was not on trial. She ruled that no reference about the October 2005 drug offense was to be made to the jury and she sealed all records concerning that offense, despite vigorous defense objections that this information not only violated Aldrete-Davila’s immunity grant, but also went to the heart of the defense argument that Aldrete-Davila's testimony was not credible.
Rohrabacher expressed continued outrage that Sutton had decided to grant immunity to an admitted drug dealer so he could prosecute two Border Patrol agents who were trying to apprehend him.
"Once Aldrete-Davila was caught a second time," Rohrabacher told WND, "it unmasks the indefensible nature of the prosecutor's decision to go after the Border Patrol agents. If the jury is not allowed to know about Aldrete-Davila's second offense, then Ramos and Compean did not get a fair trial."
The revelation also "raises questions whether what we're talking about here is two honest Border Patrol agents who stumbled across a drug cartel operation and are being punished for coming up against the power of the cartel," Rohrabacher said. "The second drug incident makes clear that Aldrete-Davila's profession is drug smuggling."
Rohrabacher was harshly critical of both Sutton and President Bush.
"What Ramos and Compean got was a screw job from day one by the U.S. attorney's office in order to send a message to all Border Patrol agents," Rohrabacher told WND. “The message from Sutton was that the President of the United States makes policy on the border, so don't get in the way. If you haven't gotten the message yet, this is an open border."
He said Sutton was running a "public relations campaign," and charged that Sutton's purpose has been to "poison the well of public opinion, calling Ramos and Compean corrupt, when there never were any corruption charges, then suggesting they shot an unarmed man in the back, when we only have (the) drug dealer's word he was unarmed and the medical evidence is that he was not shot in the back."
"In the Ramos-Compean case we have lie after lie after lie coming out of Sutton's office. And now we've got a public relations campaign to protect Sutton because he is a protégé of the president and the president doesn't want to see his career destroyed," the congressman told WND.
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally critical of the prosecution.
"It would now appear that Aldrete-Davila was not some innocent, poor migrant mule bringing narcotics into the United States so he could buy medicine for his sick mother," he said.
"From a reading of the trial transcript, it would now appear that there is at least one more case of bringing drugs into the United States illegally involving Aldrete-Davila," he said.
Poe also felt this information should have reached the jury. "If the jury would have heard about this second instance, it certainly would have affected the drug smuggler's credibility. The drug smuggler was the prosecution's case. This star witness, Aldrete-Davila, had a lot of baggage, no pun intended."
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told WND that the trial transcript now makes clear that "the prime witness against these two Border Patrol agents was involved in another major load of drugs and the prosecution made a conscious decision to keep these facts from the jury."
At the trial, Cardone ruled that Aldrete-Davila was not on trial. She ruled that no reference about the October 2005 drug offense was to be made to the jury and she sealed all records concerning that offense, despite vigorous defense objections that this information not only violated Aldrete-Davila’s immunity grant, but also went to the heart of the defense argument that Aldrete-Davila's testimony was not credible.
Rohrabacher expressed continued outrage that Sutton had decided to grant immunity to an admitted drug dealer so he could prosecute two Border Patrol agents who were trying to apprehend him.
"Once Aldrete-Davila was caught a second time," Rohrabacher told WND, "it unmasks the indefensible nature of the prosecutor's decision to go after the Border Patrol agents. If the jury is not allowed to know about Aldrete-Davila's second offense, then Ramos and Compean did not get a fair trial."
The revelation also "raises questions whether what we're talking about here is two honest Border Patrol agents who stumbled across a drug cartel operation and are being punished for coming up against the power of the cartel," Rohrabacher said. "The second drug incident makes clear that Aldrete-Davila's profession is drug smuggling."
Rohrabacher was harshly critical of both Sutton and President Bush.
"What Ramos and Compean got was a screw job from day one by the U.S. attorney's office in order to send a message to all Border Patrol agents," Rohrabacher told WND. “The message from Sutton was that the President of the United States makes policy on the border, so don't get in the way. If you haven't gotten the message yet, this is an open border."
He said Sutton was running a "public relations campaign," and charged that Sutton's purpose has been to "poison the well of public opinion, calling Ramos and Compean corrupt, when there never were any corruption charges, then suggesting they shot an unarmed man in the back, when we only have (the) drug dealer's word he was unarmed and the medical evidence is that he was not shot in the back."
"In the Ramos-Compean case we have lie after lie after lie coming out of Sutton's office. And now we've got a public relations campaign to protect Sutton because he is a protégé of the president and the president doesn't want to see his career destroyed," the congressman told WND.
Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, was equally critical of the prosecution.
"It would now appear that Aldrete-Davila was not some innocent, poor migrant mule bringing narcotics into the United States so he could buy medicine for his sick mother," he said.
"From a reading of the trial transcript, it would now appear that there is at least one more case of bringing drugs into the United States illegally involving Aldrete-Davila," he said.
Poe also felt this information should have reached the jury. "If the jury would have heard about this second instance, it certainly would have affected the drug smuggler's credibility. The drug smuggler was the prosecution's case. This star witness, Aldrete-Davila, had a lot of baggage, no pun intended."
WND has previously reported that the prosecution provided Aldrete-Davila with a multiple-use border pass signed by Homeland Security Special Agent Christopher Sanchez, along with his badge number.
WND also had specifically asked Sutton a broadly framed question, whether "there was any second incident of any kind involving Aldrete-Davila." He responded by denying that the prosecution's star witness was involved in any second drug incident, but the trial transcript now available appears to directly contradict Sutton’s denial.
I'm not sure but I don't think so as the legal transgression would still be on his record.
If found innocent I'd have to think they'd vacate the record.
I'll ask my brother in law who is a sleezy lawyer.
I'll ask my brother in law who is a sleezy lawyer."
How much will he charge you for the legal advice?
Nothing new here, move along......
Did the original article repeat everything 4 times, or is that a transcription error?
According to the Peter Walsh "Americas Most Wanted" show (and I don't know how they knew, supposedly they interviewed the jurors) the jurors did not find Aldrete particularly credible.
PING!
ROFL!
WND needs an editor.
It's immensely disturbing.
...but far from surprising.
Free the BP Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Johnny Sutton is obviously corrupt to the core. I wonder how much money it took to buy him?
FYI ;-)
Vol 7, p.43:
Stillinger: Okay. I guess -- was it a regular border crossing card or was it a temporary parole?
Chris Sanchez: It was a parole. It was a temporary parole. I think he had it under a humanitarian benefit.
These facts on the second drug smugging incident will show any reasonable supporter of the Johnny Sutton case what a rotten farce it is. This case case has always stunk, now it's reeking to high heaven
I blame Albert Gonzalez. One phone call from the AG and Sutton would have shut it down. GW is too distracted by war even though he has ultimate responsibility. A few talk show hosts fell for Andre McCarthy's (National Revue) defense of Sutton's case. Let's see what they say now
The simple math just doesn't add up. And the math is - One foreign low life drug smuggler is set free twice on smuggling drugs into the USA while two Border Patrol agents get prosecuted for winging him in the butt. Get sent to prison for ten plus years
"Prosecutorial discretion" are the key words here. Johnny Sutton was never obligated to prosecute here but true to his open borders padron, George Bush, he went after these two fine men with a vengeance
Once a year I go up to the Suwannee river where he lives and take about 50 lobsters and 50 lbs of Dolphin for a big family feed.
I can ask anything and he doesn't charge me cause he doesn't want to lose my contributions.
ping
I also blame Gonzalez but I won't let GW off the hook. One way or another Gonzalez and the rest are carrying out the Bush border policy. This is just one part of it.
Slowly the truth is coming out, the drug dealers and thier friends occupy very powerful positions in our government.
This has Bush written all over it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.