http://www.sbsun.com/news/ci_5319938

County wants Bush to free jailed agents
Jeff Horwitz, Staff Writer
San Bernardino County Sun
Article Launched:02/28/2007 12:00:00 AM PST

President Bush should consider pardoning two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting an alleged drug smuggler, according to a unanimous resolution Tuesday by the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors.
"This case appears to be a highly unusual situation where law-enforcement agents were not supported or given due process by their own agency or by the courts," said Supervisor Brad Mitzelfelt, who proposed the resolution.

The agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, were convicted last year of shooting Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, who allegedly smuggled a vanload of marijuana across the border into Texas from Mexico. The man survived, and was granted immunity for his testimony against the agents.

In light of congressional outcry over the agents' convictions and the circumstances of the case, the county's resolution states President Bush should "act quickly to conduct further investigation of the matter in order to consider a Presidential Pardon at the earliest opportunity possible."

After the meeting, Mitzelfelt conceded the request was unusual.

"Normally, state and federal investigations run their course and usually we don't interject our opinions into those proceedings," he said.

But, he said, "the residents of San Bernardino County have certainly made my office aware of their strong belief that the president should intercede."

Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, a Chino-based group that has advocated for the agents, said the spirit of the county's resolution was appreciated.

But Ramirez said he had little faith the Bush administration would give the agents' case a fair review.

"They are up to their eyeballs intimately in this and other cases," he said. "They can never do this impartially."