Posted on 02/23/2007 5:15:54 AM PST by kellynla
It is this reporter's opinion that it is now time to tell the story of former Border Patrol agent Gary Brugman — how in the performance of his duty he was falsely charged and convicted of violating the civil rights of an illegal caught entering the U.S. at the Mexican border.
The case of Brugman, along with the cases of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, Gilmer Hernandez, David Sipe, and others unjustly accused, serves as proof of the malicious prosecution brought by the U.S. attorney, Johnny Sutton, against our brave and dedicated law enforcement officers who dare to uphold our immigration laws.
Just as in the Ramos and Compean case, Sutton collaborated with the Mexican Consulate to locate a deported Mexican national, paying his way to the U.S. to testify against a dedicated border patrol agent (Brugman) on false assault charges.
What incentive was given for his testimony? It is known that a member of the smuggler's family, his daughter, received chemotherapy treatment in the U.S.
A scandalous twist orchestrated by the Sutton prosecution against Brugman was that Sutton brought the convicted and incarcerated drug smuggler from his prison cell to testify against Brugman — the same drug smuggler agent he had captured six weeks prior to the incident for which he was being prosecuted.
Once again, as in the case of Ramos and Compean, there was no previous accusation of a violation to the smuggler's civil rights. But as in the case of Ramos and Compean, the Sutton gang labeled Brugman a rogue cop.
Tragically, no one listened to Gary Brugman's story several years ago — he spent two years in the general population at federal prisons. Because of the constant threats against his life, he was forced to wrap himself in newspapers and magazines taped to his body as protection against inmate knifing attacks.
Gary Brugman lost everything, and his life was totally ruined. But thank God, he survived his sentence and is now a free man.
Brugman, a patriotic American, now tells his story in an effort to help Ramos and Compean, and Hernandez to prove their innocence against the power, influence, and treachery of President Bush, our attorney general, Alberto Gonzalez, and their "Charlie McCarthy" U.S. attorney Johnny Sutton.
The prosecution in the course of Brugman's sham of a trial called a convicted drug smuggler to the stand to testify against him — the same drug smuggler he had captured who had been convicted of smuggling and sentenced to over five years in prison.
They brought the convicted criminal into court escorted by a deputy U.S. marshal who actually sat behind him on the witness stand as he testified against Brugman.
Sutton, on more than one occasion, admitted he was prosecuting Brugman to make an example of him.
During a 20-minute recess in the trial, Brugman found himself in the restroom with Sutton's prosecuting attorney.
Brugman looked him in the eye and asked why he was doing this to him.
To which Sutton's man replied, "It's not a matter of if you are going to prison, it's a matter of how long you're going to prison for. I have a $50 million budget to make sure you're going."
Sutton, at one point, called the Mexican Consulate in Eagle Pass, Texas to help him locate and bring the drug smuggler back into the U.S., offering the dope smuggler immunity and health care for his family in exchange for false testimony against Brugman.
All of this false information was sealed by the judge and withheld during the trial. Brugman says the drug smuggler even testified he did not want to testify against Brugman but was pressured by both the Mexican and U.S. government to do so.
Says Brugman, "The recent exposure of the facts of the Compean and Ramos case, and that of Deputy Hernandez, has torn me apart. I now know how it feels and it is terrifying. God bless these agents and this deputy. May He be with them and their families every moment of the day."
Meanwhile, when will Sutton be exposed for his illegal actions as he represents the power structure of the Bush/Gonzalez abuse of our American judicial system by bringing false prosecutions and imprisonment against loyal border patrol officers?
And there you have another story — the story of Border Patrol Agent Brugman and his unjust prosecution at the hands of Sutton and his gang.
NO PARDONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT!
Pinging all Libertarians! Corrupt cops shoot brother doper, try to cover it up!
Come all ye Free Drugs Uber Alles faithful!
My point in this was a narrow point, which was that the pardoning of 5 drug convictions over christmas was not germaine to the discussion of pardoning the agents.
That's because Bush wasn't pressured to pardon the drug convictions, they came through channels; the pardons were administrative as they had already served their sentences; and the crimes they committed were non-violent.
If after they serve their sentences, Ramos and Compean want to be BP agents again, they might need a pardon to get the conviction cleared so they can get the jobs, and it might make sense to do so. But that's not the kind of pardon people are calling for here.
So it's clear the point of the post is not to provide enlightenment or add facts to the debate over the guilt or innocence of the agents, but merely to inflame passions and to suggest that Bush loves drug dealers and therefore pressured sutton to believe the drug dealer and not the agents.
When in fact drug dealers are put in jail by the BP all the time, and nobody is trying to prosecute THOSE agents. IN fact, in one other case where a drug smuggler helped put an agent in jail, the smuggler was already in jail and got no reduction of sentence for his testimony.
One thing history teaches us is that, with few exceptions, people, especially government people, do not give up power readily.
I would love to know why it took so long to get the transcript out. Most of the dates on the transcripts are within a couple months of the trial, so I don't understand why nobody had access to them.
Well, there is something else though about the timeline. While the case ended in the spring, they agents did not go to prison until this year. So they weren't incarcerated for that long before their appeal was started. Why was their incarceration delayed so long, and could that be the same reason the transcripts took so long?
"It is highly unlikely that, in the middle of a trial, the accused ended up unguarded in a bathroom with a prosecuting attorney, much less that a prosecuting attorney would say this or anything to him, when the correct response is "you have a lawyer, I am forbidden to have conversations with you"."
No it's not unlikely. Brugman was on bond. He wasn't being guarded by anybody. I've tried many a case where I ended up in the restroom with the other party. I would smile and say "hi". Their attorney wasn't "guarding" them.
That I think I can answer. In the transcript, they started discussing dates for the sentencing or jail phase, if I recall. Whatever it was, they started with a possible date of November [if not October] then while all lawyers and the judge went over their schedules it was like a comedy routine. There were the usual trial conflicts, but then it started getting into conflicts with "seminars" and birthdays and the holidays. So what started out as a November date ending up in February I think. If you need a laugh, the several pages devoted to agreeing to a date acceptable to all is worth a read!
I didn't understand why the first date mentioned was November, because I don't know about trials and such. What usually happens between the conviction and sentencing that requires it be delayed for so long?
If you have to ask . . . .
asked a librarian to look up Johnny Keane Sutton. Nothing important in addition to what you found. He was born on June 1960 and played baseball. She said in the directory she checked that others listed their parents and wives and children but he did not. A bachelor? He also left blank his political and religious affiliations
I didn't read this yesterday. It looks like "Borderdgate". I wonder how many of these cases are out there that we don't know about.
Again this is Sutton and Texas and another border patrol agent prosecuted for doing his job. The unjustice department needs to be investigated. I wonder how much money or the deal was paid for the drug smugglers. Again Sutton went into Mexico to find smuggler witnesses. Ping list please.
This guy even went to the same prison in Mississippi and had to pad himself with magazines for protection against thugs.
BP ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
That's the Just Us Department.
The Untold Story of Border Patrol Agent Gary Brugman
http://www.americanfreedomriders.com/GarysStory.html
This is the first I have heard of Gary Brugman. A scary story.
This bordergate is a travesty of justice. No doubt, Mexico is calling the shots here. I wonder how much Sutton paid the Mexicans in bribes.
Cal, I know you are the expert in getting transcripts. Do you think we can get the transcripts for this trial?
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