bama will give considering all the crooked buddies AND TERRORIST FRIENDS that will get caught in the next 4 years.
Posted on 01/20/2009 7:38:42 AM PST by SmithL
On his way out of office, President Bush used his power of the pardon to commute the sentences of former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who had been sentenced to 11 years and 12 years respectively for shooting and wounding a fleeing drug smuggler in 2005 and then covering up the incident. It was the right move.
Ramos and Compean supporters no doubt would have preferred it if Bush had pardoned the agents - which would have cleared their criminal records. In that Bush had stood by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's prosecution of the agents, as well as the jury verdicts, this is the best outcome that was to be had.
When Bush commuted the 30-month sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, he did not fully pardon Libby. He let a $250,000 fine and two years of probation stand, although he did override the prison sentence, because it was "excessive."
No better word could describe the Ramos and Compean sentences.
Ramos and Compean say they thought Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was armed as he evaded arrest, but because he got away, there is no way to know if he was carrying a gun or just a shiny object. Sutton argued, and a jury concurred, that the agents realized they were shooting at an unarmed man. If Sutton is correct, their crime largely occurred in the heat of the chase - and never warranted sentences exceeding the usual plea bargain punishments awarded to crooked Border Patrol agents.
The reason for the long sentences - dumb laws. The federal mandatory minimum system, enacted by Congress in 1986, tacks 10 years onto a federal crime committed with a firearm.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I couldn’t be more grateful for your post and am praising the Lord that folks like you really understand what this is all about!!!
The jury was told that this “victim” was unarmed. Who was it that said he was unarmed? The drug smuggler himself.
He violated his own immunity deal when he kept smuggling drugs into the country afterwards.
The agents fired when they believed him to be an armed man. Perhaps he was. Certainly his own statement means nothing as to the truth. “he said/he said”.
>> I wish there had been a full pardon. <<
It’s my understanding that Ramos and Compean didn’t really want a pardon, since accepting a pardon is sorta like an admission of guilt. Moreover, a pardon would have ended their chances for an appeal.
So what they apparently wanted (and still want) is an opportunity to follow thru on their appeal and thereby establish their innocence.
So Bush is a pseudoconservative with compassion? He
sure had me (and lots of others fooled)....the guy is
more like the media had him portrayed..a dumbo with
no regard for anyone, but his own little cubbyhole..
Libby, and a helluva lot more, desreved full pardons..
He haS ruined the Republican party with his half/ass
stubborness. ‘06 elections would have been different
if he sacked Rumfield before the election. He hung
everyone out to dry. JK
You must've missed it when the Justice Department claimed that these Hispanic men said "I'm gonna go shoot me some Mexicans today".
THAT was the case that was made against these men by our own crooked government. Johnny Sutton engaged in Nifongism.
Nifong got brought up on charged afterwards. I would like to see Johnny Sutton charged for his own prosecutorial abuse. Lies of omission are lies as well. "you promise to tell the truth, the WHOLE truth, and nothing but the truth".
And you don't hear a single congress critter stepping up to the plate to amend the law they passed..... Yet many was front and center pushing for the pardon/commutation.
Now maybe Ramos/Compean can get on with a new life albeit a much different one from their past.
None of what you stated justifies two LEOs failing to report the incident involving discharge of a firearm, and then not being forthcoming when questioned about it. LEOs like this shouldn’t be LEOs any more.
I was thinking along those lines as well. It certainly is refreshing to have a president who doesn't sell out his pardon power to the highest bidder.
President Bush always said, regarding the commutations, thet he would act when the agents exhausted their legal options. This was not done until about a month ago when the third review by court re-affirmed their convictions and sentences.
I think that as well, but in that CNN interview (or was it Fox?) Bush said he didn’t understand the whole “Bush Derangement Syndrome” exhibited by the left and that he didn’t pay much attention to his critics. I don’t really buy that response as it did seem like he was afraid of rocking the boat against the MSM or the Democrats.
I wouldn’t be surprised if President Bush’s ratings went up 20 points after commuting the sentences of Ramos and Compean.
People on the jury, who were kept from knowing what manner of man the agents were dealing with, upon hearing the entire truth afterwards, indicated they would not have voted to find them guilty.
If the shooting was justified in the least, and I believe it was, then what they did was a procedural and administrative mistake that should have been handled as such...and perhapos harshly in those terms...but these men should not have been sent to prison or been found guilty of felony charges.
The trial, in that regard, was a witch hunt by a politically charged prosecutor, IMHO.
The legal story here is not over and will not be until they have exhausted their appeals. We shall see how it stands at that point.
HAving said that, I support them fully in their appeal process and pray sanity will prevail and their convictions will one day be overturned.
bama will give considering all the crooked buddies AND TERRORIST FRIENDS that will get caught in the next 4 years.
How many will Obama Pardon? Probably the whole corrupt DNC congress, governors, mayors, etc. People pardon based on their own ethics and what they judge to be right and wrong. That is why Clinton had so many. Just wait for this liar who wrote on his Law bar that he had never gone by any other name.
Our responses separated by a mere 16 seconds. “Great” minds think alike, unless they happen to be inside of a liberal.
Not only did Clinton sell his pardons to the highest bidder, those who coordinated the sales and the spouse of Bubba will hold positions within the Obama administration even AFTER vetting by Congress.
Our government is as corrupt as it can possibly be.
Should have reported discharging of firearms immediately and filed a subsequent written report.
People on the jury, who were kept from knowing what manner of man the agents were dealing with, upon hearing the entire truth afterwards, indicated they would not have voted to find them guilty.
A slimy tactic, but in truth has no bearing whatsoever on the the Officers' conduct. Officers don't get to pick and choose what to report no matter how slimy the criminal.
If the shooting was justified in the least, and I believe it was, then what they did was a procedural and administrative mistake that should have been handled as such...and perhapos harshly in those terms...but these men should not have been sent to prison or been found guilty of felony charges.
Agreed, it COULD have been handled administratively IF they had been truthful and forthcoming upon interview. However, they weren't, they misled the initial investigation, that's criminal in any book.
The trial, in that regard, was a witch hunt by a politically charged prosecutor, IMHO
If they wanted to be dealt with fairly, they shouldn't have tried to hide their crime. You can't choose your prosecutor and who doesn't know that some of them (most?) are zealous? I disagree with prison for them, because they could easily be murdered in prison. But they should NEVER be cops of any sort ever again, hence my support of criminal conviction.
Thats pure 100% gold-plated bullcrap.
They were *not* criminals. And it’s interesting, all this talk that the agents should not have hidden any fact, for any reason. Yet, you seem to be ok with Sutton being allowed to HIDE from the jury *the fact* that the smuggler was working off charges that occurred AFTER the date he was shot? Testify “right”, and you don’t face smuggling charges for 800 lbs AND you get a green card?? No reason to lie there, huh?
Also,,, the smuggler was armed, dont be dense. He was the only smuggler in Mexican history, who in the middle of a gang war, that carried his loads UNARMED? Sure he was. And how do we know he was unarmed? Why,,we asked him a few months later.
Sutton lied far more montrously that anything those agents did. And besides,, you shoot and miss at a guy who runs into Mexico? Why bother with a lot of useless reports? Grow up.
Exactly. We were told in 2000 that Bush was a conservative. It was a lie. Bush has only courted the conservatives when it came to election time, and then immediately after elected made nice with his enemies, inviting Kennedy over to the White House for movie night, letting him write the education bill, etc.
We had better not make the same mistake in the future and elect more RINOs. There are no differences between RINOs and Democrats.
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