Posted on 07/28/2008 11:46:09 AM PDT by Nachum
In a complex decision, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the major counts against former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean but reversed the obstruction of justice counts and sent the case back to a lower court for resentencing.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
“Their only “crime” was they actually attempted to defend the southern border of the United States against foreign invaders and criminals.
If they had looked the other way, they would be free men today.”
Yes, but we wouldn’t be free men, or women today.
Wish I could be that optimistic. Getting rid of obstruction is great news though. Time served would be awesome - but still an injustice.
Still time for W to pardon them but I am not holding my breath.
Even Ramos and Compean never asserted with a certainty that this happened.
Neither made such a statement on the day of the event, and in fact on the day of the event they each said they did not feel threatened (according to the court ruling).
Neither acted like Davila had a gun on that day. Neither told any other agent appearing at the scene that the suspect was armed. No shots were fired by the suspect.
The jury determined, based on the testimony they heard from all witnesses, that the shooting was a crime. The appeals court ruled that the evidence supported that verdict.
Only after they were arrested for the shooting did they each claim they felt threatened.
There was no evidence presented other than their statements to show that Davila was armed, or that he turned or otherwise threatened.
If the Appeals Court ruling truly had error of fact, that would be brought out quickly by the lawyers and other interested parties, just as the errors of fact in the recent Supreme Court cases came out quickly.
Three men of character and decades of experience took on, as a job assignment, the task of reviewing every scrap of evidence from the case, along with filings from the defense and the government. They reviewed all the evidence, and concluded that no substantive errors were made, and that the facts supported the verdict.
In the absense of any real evidence to the contrary, I will trust their judgment over those expressed here.
“The government’s evidence showed that the agents had no reason to shoot the drug smuggler..”
Except, of course, that he might return with more illegal drugs.
All of this started with sensors going off at the border.
C’mon, please stick to reality. Ramos and Compean didn’t know the guy was a drug smuggler. He was certainly acting suspiciously, but be serious . . . the shooting was justified because the guy might return with more?
The point I was making was that the appeals court has had the case in review since December last. They have had substantial time to review the testimony and analyze it without error. The copy of the opinion that I read displayed to me that they did not read nor understand the testimony given with respect to the events of Feb 17, 2005. It is quite simple to verify this. Read the testimony and read the opinion. I pointed out three errors made by the appeals court with respect to the testimony. Whether or not this has any legal impact on the final decision is moot, but that lack of judicial discernment is to me an indicator of the disregard to the actual guilt or innocence of the agents. The apparent legal viewpoint is that juries do not make mistakes. The task of reviewing all the evidence, which you mentioned, was faulty.
Quite an understatement. I've been to the ditch. He planned on getting past Compean from the get-go. No one enters that smell pit to surrender to someone on the other side while jumping across like a bullet. No one had a chance to assure that he was unarmed. It was a continuous run from the traffic light until the bullet in the ass. The path of the bullet across his buttocks indicated he was turned when he was hit. It went from the lower left side of the left buttcheek across to the middle of the pelvis where it shattered, the main piece continued into the right thigh. Davila was not running across the view of Ramos to any appreciable extent. The testimony does not indicate that. Plus an already spectacular single shot from a handgun would have been Annie Oakley quality.
If you took the time to actually post the page of the trial testimony that you think contradicts the official opinion of the Appeals court, it would be evidence that you were right and they were wrong.
Right now, we have the official opinion of a court, and your recollection of the testimony.
BTW, I’d just look up the testimony and post it, except that I recently erased all the information on my computer, so I don’t have it, and since I had it on my computer, I hadn’t bookmarked it.
So then what was the motivation for Ramos to shoot the single wounding shot? Why did Ramos run through a deep smelly ditch, if not to help a fellow agent who was threatened? They had the van. It was on the north side of the ditch where Ramos was before he entered the ditch.
Don't take that personally, but the issues you present have been litigated, and decided.
How about you actually reading what I post? Look at posts 89 and 90(calcowgirl's post). They contain quotes from the testimony.
Google is your friend. So am I --- http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/Compean-Ramos/index.html
it’s based on the sentencing guidelines
time served would only be applicable in a rule 2251 if they had met a minimum for the charges the court let stand already
I don't take it personally, you have not made it so, to your credit. Well, if issues have been litigated and decided why do we wait lifetimes to execute convicted killers? Juries can and do make errors. I believe the one in this case was wrong. Terribly so.
It's a tough question, and you can see the 5th Circuit struggle with it . . . the principle is that jury verdicts stand.
i knew a fellow in Port St Lucie FL in 1992 who bought a 30 pound bale of pot and when asked by the DEA and their snitch if wanted more and he said yes.....they fronted him another 100 ....and they said they had 2000 pounds and he said he'd make some calls and see what he could do
He was charged with conspiracy and the 2000 pounds was considered relevant conduct and was the quantity used for his sentencing guideline
He only bought 15,000 dollars worth of weed but got sentenced as though he bought one million dollars worth.
he got lucky...he hired Jay Moscowitz and won his rule 2255 and got called up to the Captain's office in the Federal penitentiary where he'd been for 5 years on a 22 year sentence and walked out the door a free man.
the judge agreed he was entrapped
had he only been charged with the 30 pounds it would have been a probationary charge or maybe 6 months in a camp
he was released from a high security FCI
Well, then how would you answer the questions I posed in post 112? Keep in mind that once Ramos entered the ditch in order to help Compean, he had no time to ponder anything until after he shot the single round. This is also in light of the fact that he was in the ditch when he heard all of the shot's fired, not knowing who was doing the firing. The ditch does not permit much visibility until you are nearly out of it and then the levee blocks your view of the vega.
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