Thread: Border agents who shot smuggler denied appeal

Friday, September 12, 2008
Border Patrol agents lose last appeal over shot smuggler
Jerry Seper (Contact)

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans denied a request Thursday for a rehearing in an appeal by two U.S. Border Patrol agents who received lengthy prison terms for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks as he fled Texas into Mexico.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, whose office prosecuted the case, said the court's ruling means that it will not hear any more arguments on the appeal, which was filed after agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean were found guilty of shooting Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in February 2005. The shooting occurred after Aldrete-Davila ran from a van loaded with 743 pounds of marijuana near Fabens, Texas.

"I am pleased with today's ruling, just as I was earlier this summer when a panel of the same court affirmed the convictions of the most serious charges against Mr. Compean and Mr. Ramos," Mr. Sutton said.

"Today's ruling validates what this office has been saying all along - this prosecution was about the rule of law, plain and simple," he said.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who sought a presidential or congressional pardon for the agents, said the nation's justice system "has once again failed agents Ramos and Compean."

"These men, as well as their families, have suffered enough," he told The Washington Times. "The only way this injustice can possibly be corrected is through a pardon or a commutation."

The latest ruling means that the two agents will serve their prison sentences unless Mr. Bush pardons them or commutes their sentences. Ramos, 37, received an 11-year prison sentence, and Compean, 28, a 12-year sentence in October 2006.

The White House has said that President Bush would review pardon petitions on a case-by-case basis.

In July, the appeals court ruled that the agents had been "properly convicted of substantive crimes," saying the evidence presented at their trial "fully supports the jury verdict." While the ruling vacated five minor counts in a 12-count indictment against the agents, it let stand seven other charges - including assault and the discharge of a firearm during a crime of violence, which resulted in 10-year mandatory sentences.

The appeals court in July also noted that U.S. District Court Judge Kathleen Cardone in El Paso, Texas, did not violate the agents' right to due process when she excluded evidence from the jury about the size of the marijuana load and Aldrete-Davila's suspected involvement in a second drug-smuggling venture in October 2005.

Aldrete-Davila, 27, was arrested in November by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in El Paso on a federal grand-jury indictment charging him with conspiracy and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana. The indictment said he brought a second load of 752 pounds of marijuana into the U.S. in October 2005, eight months after he had been shot by the agents.

In August, Aldrete-Davila was sentenced to 9 1/2 years in federal prison in the second case. The sentence was handed down by Judge Cardone.

The two Border Patrol agents were on patrol along the U.S.-Mexico border when, according to the appeals court panel, they chased "an alien drug smuggler driving a van as he speeded toward the Mexican border." The court panel said that after the "drug smuggler" abandoned the van and began to run to the border, the agents gave chase and fired their weapons at him several times.

But after the chase, there was a "cover-up" that included a cleanup of the shooting site of spent shells and a failure by the agents to report they had fired their weapons - as "plainly required by well-established Border Patrol policies," the court panel said.

Mr. Sutton said Thursday that those who criticized the prosecution in the case should "re-evaluate their position in light of the court record."

"I believe that those who understand the record and the evidence introduced at trial will realize that the actions of Compean and Ramos in shooting an unarmed and fleeing suspect were serious crimes which had to be prosecuted in order to maintain the rule of law," he said.

http://washingtontimes.com

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-3530--0-0.html

"I believe that those who understand the record and the evidence introduced at trial will realize that the actions of Compean and Ramos in shooting an unarmed and fleeing suspect were serious crimes which had to be prosecuted in order to maintain the rule of law," he said.

NO SUTTON, WE DONT UNDERSTAND. A HUGE PORTION OF THE EVIDENCE WAS COVERED UP AND FORBIDDEN BY THE JUDGE TO BE INTRODUCED DURING THE TRIAL.

Mr Johnny Sutton, your time will come when a higher authority will judge your actions.

"This prosecution was about the rule of law" Sutton said. Oh, well absolutely Sutton, the American people can clearly see that you and Jorge Boosh and the CFR and corporate America, the Chamber of Communism, the globalist puppetiers and all of those in the "Treason" community have nothing less than the rule of law in mind and at heart.

We can tell by the way that all of these people who have sworn oaths to uphold the Constitution of this nation and our laws have decided to pick and choose just which laws are to be enforced and just which peoples will be required to abide by which laws. The rule of law is the next best thing since sliced bread when it is used to appease a whining and demanding corrupt Mehecan gubmint but the rule of law has to be set aside when it gets in the way of billions of American dollars in remittances propping up the corrupt Mehecan system. The rule of law must be ignored when it comes to millions and millions of foreign invaders just walking into our country and killing, crippling, robbing, raping and hating the American citizens and law abiding people in this nation. We can't expect rule of law if it is going to interfere with corporations' slave labor or the agenda of globalists who have no sense of country or patriotism to America.

No, Mr. Sutton, the rule of law should only be applied to those law abiding Americans and those law enforcement officers who try to stop the invasion of this country by criminals. There should be no accountability for overzealous cronies in the judicial system nor for treasonous puppet politicians who clearly do not have the better interest of this nation at heart. It should not apply to those who have intentionally shirked their OATHS of office and their responsibilities to the American People. It's only rule of law when you say it's rule of law. YOUDAMAN Sutton. After all, wasn't it Jorge who reportedly said that the Constitution is just a G.....D...... piece of paper? This seems to be the mindset of these people. The founding fathers are spinning in their graves.

God Help America.

I'm sick, literally. Outrageous. Nauseating.

Johnny Sutton ISN'T called Johnny SATAN for NOTHING!

"I believe that those who understand the record and the evidence introduced at trial will realize that the actions of Compean and Ramos in shooting an unarmed and fleeing suspect were serious crimes which had to be prosecuted in order to maintain the rule of law," he said.

NO SUTTON, WE DONT UNDERSTAND. A HUGE PORTION OF THE EVIDENCE WAS COVERED UP AND FORBIDDEN BY THE JUDGE TO BE INTRODUCED DURING THE TRIAL.

Mr Johnny Sutton, your time will come when a higher authority will judge your actions. :evil:

I recall a quote attributed to Clinton: "If you tell a lie often enough and long enough, it'll become the truth..."
But no one is fooled, at least not those who believe in the Constitution and the Rule of Law. This entire case has been nothing but lies, distortions, half-truths, intimidation, and cover-ups by the Bush Administration, the CORRUPT Attorney General's office, and numerous courts - and I want to know where the corruption and money leads. The only way Bush could possibly redeem himself in my mind is to grant a full pardon and return the lost wages, time and honor to the agents. Nothing less is remotely acceptible. But I seriously doubt he maintains any honor anymore. What a despicable man he has become.

Originally Posted by crazybird

Honest to God....you wish it was the wild wild west and we go and do a prison break. This is just so WRONG!

I'am all for bustin em out!!!