Ex-border agents appeal convictions (Ramos and Compean)

washingtontimes.com ^ | September 24, 2007 | Jerry Seper

[Boston Blackie]

Two former U.S. Border Patrol agents sentenced to lengthy prison terms for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect have asked a federal appeals court to overturn their convictions, saying they were charged with a nonexistent crime and convicted after the jury was given improper instructions by the trial judge.

[Bob J]

“He was re-arrested later for drug smuggling.”

Prove it or admit you get all your “news” from WND and then regurgitate it as fact.

[geezerwheezer]

I don’t know what WND is, but it sounds like something you don’t care for. Too bad, hope you get a life soon. :0 )

[muawiyah]

Either the testimony of dopers is admissable in court or it isn't.

End of story.

[untrained skeptic]

The prosecution knew of the claim. The prosecution said nothing to verify the claim, and simply argued that any such claim, true or not, had no bearing on the case. The judge agreed with their argument.

The judge did a number of things I thought were unreasonable. I guess we will find out what the appeals court thinks.

There have been many different claims related to this “second incident”, including that Davilas had been ARRESTED, that Sutton had gotten the arrest expunged, etc.

I was basing what I said on what I read in the court transcripts. I agree that there is a lot of crap being alleged by some people who support Ramos and Compean.

I never actually heard the details about the source of that information. To my knowledge, neither did the judge.

The prosecution didn't ask Davila about it. Don't you think that is strange? They didn't want to question him and see if he was still engaging in running drugs?

If they had questioned him, they would have had to either offer him immunity or risk him not being willing to testify and their case falling apart.

If the granted him immunity relating to it, then questioning him about it during trial became fair game. The defense was permitted to question him and other witnesses about the terms of the immunity agreement.

They didn't care to find out too much about their witness, simply because anything they learned was likely to hurt their case against Ramos and Compean. So the only ones with the resources to possibly find out if Davila had more of a criminal history than he was letting on and might have been likely to carry a weapon (the US Government) were unwilling to investigate the matter.

What really struck me in the court transcripts is that it did not look like the government made much effort to investigate what happened with an open mind. They didn't simply gather evidence and see where it led, at least not after they discovered who were the agents that had fired their weapons.

After they figured out who fired their weapons, their efforts were clearly focused on finding evidence that might show their guilt. It was glaringly obvious that they made very little effort to investigate Davila.

The prosecution didn't make an effort to get all the facts into the open so the jury could make an informed decision, they tried to spin things as best they could to support their allegations.

The defense of course tried to do the same. However, the defense doesn't have the full resources of the United State government at their disposal with which to gather evidence. They had to rely on the evidence gathered by the government, and the government wasn't acting like a disinterested party in how they gathered evidence.

[gubamyster]

ping

[janetgreen]

The ONLY Presidential Candidate who’s promised to pardon both Ramos & Compean....DUNCAN HUNTER ‘08!!

He will be doing the job the president occupant of the White House refuses to do...

Hunter is one of the only ones I would vote for in '08.

[calcowgirl]

Ramos/Compean Ping!

[joebuck]

"He was “caught” with 700lbs of marijuana? Can you point us to the arrest report?"

there was no arrest report because there was no arrest. The agents were instructed to let him go so as not to damage him as a witness against the Border agents.

[calcowgirl]

The suspect, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, entered the United States illegally in a van with more than 700 pounds of marijuana. ... Sutton seemed grudgingly to agree that it "probably wasn't a very wise move" to grant Aldrete a humanitarian visa to get him back to the United States to testify, under immunity, against the two agents. ... The man who was shot recuperated well enough to be arrested several months later in a separate drug smuggling case.

July 23, 2007 Austin American-Statesman (TX)

[jackibutterfly]

"...that was given to him to receive treatment at a US hospital for his severed urethra (mexican doctors couldn’t treat it)"

Isn't that interesting? He was shot in the hip, had a severed uretha AND managed to run away??? C'mon - common sense tells one that he WASN'T shot by our border patrol agents! How could he possibly have run away??? I heard on a talk radio show that he wasn't treated for several weeks AFTER he was supposedly shot by our border patrol agents. Yeah, right! Who's to say that he wasn't shot AFTER he got back into Mexico. After all, they never came up with the bullet that was taken out of him. That, to me, is the more likely scenario.

[jackibutterfly]

Hasn’t ANYONE here wondered how the drug suspect could run with a bullet in his hip?? Anyone? Hello? That, to me, blows the whole case. He could have gotten shot in Mexico - yes?

[Iwo Jima]

Thanks for the ping.

It seems that everyone is ignoring the essence of the posted article. I know Mark Brewer. He is a very good lawyer. He appeared as amicus in the appeal.

I read his brief. It is excellent. Everyone should read it. He raised fundamental issues that the defendants retained lawyers -- both trial and appellate -- failed to raise.

The gist of the article -- and the brief -- is that the statute under which Ramos and Compean were convicted and sentenced to 10 years is not a statute that proscibes any illegality whatsoever. It is merely a statute that says if your are found guilty of certain crimes, then in the sentencing you can be assessed an extra 10 years if you used a firearm in the commission of that crime.

Ramos and Compean were indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced for a non-existent crime.

[Iwo Jima]

Your well known reputation as a toady and suckuop for federal LEOs renders any opinion that you have on this matter insignificant.

[Cyropaedia]

Remember, Sutton said that he would not testify before Congress with regards to the Mexican Government’s involvement in the case. That stinks to high heaven. A foreign government is pushing our DoJ to prosecute two federal agents and a the U.S. Attorney wants to keep their discussions under wraps, -even if he is subpoenaed by Congress.

[Cyropaedia]

The gist of the article -- and the brief -- is that the statute under which Ramos and Compean were convicted and sentenced to 10 years is not a statute that proscibes any illegality whatsoever. It is merely a statute that says if your are found guilty of certain crimes, then in the sentencing you can be assessed an extra 10 years if you used a firearm in the commission of that crime.

Ramos and Compean were indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced for a non-existent crime.

That bears repeating. Look at my post at # 34 (if you want to have an idea of what was really going on).

[Iwo Jima]

You really need to read Mark Brewer's brief. It makes you proud to be a lawyer.

I think that CCG posted that brief or linked to it at some point. Maybe we can prevail upon her to do so again. /begging, pleading, suckup

[calcowgirl]

Ramos and Compean were indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced for a non-existent crime

I agree!

It is a point that several folks mentioned earlier, and compelling as Brewer lays it out.

http://www.gunowners.com/amicus10.pdf

BRIEF AMICUS CURIAE OF
CONGRESSMAN WALTER B. JONES,
CONGRESSMAN VIRGIL H. GOODE, JR.,
CONGRESSMAN TED POE,
GUN OWNERS FOUNDATION,
U.S. BORDER CONTROL FOUNDATION,
U.S. BORDER CONTROL, AND
CONSERVATIVE LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND
IN SUPPORT OF APPELLANTS

[Iwo Jima]

My Gosh, you are fast!! Are you wired inside my head so that you know what I am thinking before I do?

[calcowgirl]

Maybe we can prevail upon her to do so again. /begging, pleading, suckup

LOL. I really should read ahead. I already did that. ;-)

[Iwo Jima]

I know that GMTA and all that, but this is getting scary.

Tell me, what am I going to do next?