Thread: House to dig deeper into Ramos-Compean case

House to dig deeper into Ramos-Compean case
Absence of U.S. attorney before panel prompts further hearings

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Posted: July 31, 2007
7:14 p.m. Eastern


By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com


Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., and William Delahunt, D-Mass.
House Republicans and Democrats rebuked U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton today for not appearing at a House subcommittee hearing into his office's prosecution of former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

"This case stinks to high heaven," ranking member Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., declared in his opening statement.

The absence of Sutton and Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Richard L. Skinner – and an overall lack of cooperation from the Justice Department – will trigger additional oversight hearings demanding answers in the controversial case, said Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., chairman of the subcommittee on Internal Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Ramos and Compean are serving 11- and 12-year prison sentences, respectively, after a jury convicted them last year of violating federal gun laws and covering up the shooting of a drug smuggler as he fled back to Mexico after driving across the border with more than 700 pounds of marijuana. The office of El Paso U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton gave the smuggler, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, immunity to serve as the government's star witness and testify against the border agents.

Delahunt pointed out the Justice Department decided Sutton could not testify despite the fact the prosecutor has been talking about the case on numerous radio and television shows across the nation.

"I can only conclude that this is one more example of arrogance on the part of the Department of Justice," said Delahunt.

The Massachusetts Democrat reported to the committee that Rep. John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee have agreed to hold hearings prompted by the failure of Sutton and Skinner to appear.

Delahunt, a former Boston prosecutor, said that after reviewing the case, he has serious concerns about the verdicts and is certain the punishment does not fit the alleged crimes.

"Given the harsh, disproportionate, excessive sentences, justice was not done," he said.

Delahunt said there was no need to charge the men under 18 U.S. Code Section 924(c) of the U.S. code, which requires a 10-year sentence for using or carrying a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence.

Echoing Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chaired a Senate hearing on the case earlier this month, Delahunt argued the statute did not apply to Ramos and Compean in their pursuit of a drug smuggler at the Mexican border, because there was no underlying crime.

At the Senate hearing, Sutton provided examples of the statute being applied to law enforcement officers, but Delahunt asserted they have no relation to the Ramos-Compean case. One example was a policeman who raped a woman after a traffic stop.

"To make these comparisons in the case of Ramos and Compean are simply absurd on their face," Delahunt said.

Delahunt said the law provides a remedy.

"I join with others who call on President Bush to commute the sentences of these two men," he said.

Pointing to the president's commutation of the 30-month sentence of former White House aide Scooter Libby, Delahunt said American citizens must wonder "at the disparity of treatment" between the two cases.

"I do hope that the president responds swiftly and exercises his constitutional prerogative, not just for the sake of these two men but for the sake of the criminal justice system," Delahunt said.

Rohrabacher concluded with a similar appeal to Bush.

"We are just praying that Ramos and Compean as they languish in prison … as they are separated from their families with no source of income – men just trying to protect us – we hope that something touches the president's heart," he said.

Appearing for the State Department were Charles Shapiro, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere; and Gary Star, director of the diplomatic security service.

Shapiro limited his testimony to a narrow focus, claiming he was not able to find any communications between the State Department and the Mexican consulate involving the drug smuggler.

As WND reported, Rohrabacher last week released documentation Aldrete-Davila had been given six unconventional, unescorted border passes which he may have used to smuggle a second load of drugs into the U.S.

When questioned by Rohrabacher about other communications the Mexican consulate may have had concerning Aldrete-Davila with other agencies, such as DHS, Shapiro professed ignorance, admitting at one point, "I do not know what I do not know."

The hearings were called after Rohrabacher expressed concern about potential foreign influence exerted by the Mexican consulate in the prosecution.

WND reported no criminal investigation of Ramos or Compean had begun until after the Mexican consulate complained the smuggler had his civil rights violated by being shot by Border Patrol agents in the U.S., neglecting to mention the illegal alien was smuggling drugs.

WND also reported Skinner admitted to a House committee under oath that DHS investigators "misrepresented" reports when claiming to the Texas congressional delegation that Ramos and Compean were "rogue cops" who wanted to "shoot a Mexican."

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Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Democrat calls for agents' commutation
U.S. attorney in charge of the case is a no-show at House hearing on border shooting.
By DENA BUNIS
The Orange County Register

WASHINGTON A Democratic subcommittee chairman Tuesday added his voice to the calls of Republican lawmakers that President Bush commute the sentences of two former border patrol agents convicted for shooting a fleeing drug dealer at the Mexican border.

Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., held a hearing before his subcommittee on international organizations, human rights and oversight. Delahunt labeled the more than decade-long sentences former agents Jose Campean and Ignacio Ramos received as "harsh, disproportionate and excessive.''

"I join with others today who have called on President Bush to commute the sentences of these two men,'' said Delahunt. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who along with a large group of GOP lawmakers has called on the president to do that, said Delahunt's support in this matter was key. Two weeks ago, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., also urged Bush to let the two out of prison.

Campean and Ramos were convicted in Texas last year of shooting Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila in the buttocks while he was running away from them at the Mexican border. They were also found guilty of covering up the incident and tampering with evidence.

Delahunt was particularly irked that the Justice Department refused to allow the U.S. attorney in charge of the case, Johnny Sutton, to testify at the hearing and that the Department of Homeland Security also refused to send a representative. He told the panel that Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., has agreed to hold a full committee session on this matter this fall and that he will demand that Sutton appear. Delahunt also plans to ask Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to get involved.

"I can only conclude that this is one more example of arrogance on the part of the Department of Justice,'' said Delahunt, who compared the quick commutation Bush gave to former vice presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby with the lack of action on this case.

Justice Department officials have said that Sutton would not appear because the case is still on appeal. They also said that the subcommittee's inquiry was billed as investigating the involvement, if any, of the Mexican government in this case and that Sutton could not be of any help in that matter.

Several lawmakers pointed out that Sutton did appear before a Senate hearing called by Feinstein and has made numerous media appearances in recent weeks.

"There have been so many questionable statements and bad decisions that this case stinks to high heaven,'' Rohrabacher said at the hearing. "No shows at hearings, oblivious denials and further misstatements of the facts will not remove the stench.''

The only government witnesses to attend Tuesday's hearing were representatives from the State Department who testified that they could find nothing in their records to indicate that the Mexican government had communicated with them about the case of the two border agents. Lawmakers were questioning whether the Justice and Homeland Security departments were circumventing the State Department in their inquiry.

http://www.ocregister.com/news/delahunt ... on-hearing

July 31, 2007, 9:35PM
Panel probes Mexico's role in ex-border agents case
Homeland Security, Justice officials refuse to give testimony


By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau


WASHINGTON — Bipartisan congressional anger flared Tuesday over the imprisonment of two Border Patrol agents for wounding a fleeing Mexican drug smuggler and concealing evidence of the shooting.

Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass., urged President Bush to commute the agents' sentences, saying the 11- and 12-year prison sentences handed to ex-agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were "harsh, disproportionate, excessive."

The two men wounded Osvaldo Aldrete Davila after a high-speed chase outside El Paso in February 2005.

Delahunt's House Foreign Affairs oversight subcommittee, which convened to investigate what role, if any, the Mexican government played in the prosecution, didn't offer a definitive answer — largely because the Justice and Homeland Security department officials refused to testify.

State Department witnesses described only tangential contact after Homeland Security opened an investigation within weeks of the shooting.

"From my own examination of the record, the government of Mexico had minimal communication with the U.S. government and no contact with Aldrete Davila," Delahunt told the subcommittee.

But Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, and other House conservatives said they still had questions, particularly since Mexico demanded the prosecution of a Texas deputy sheriff in a similar case handled by the same U.S. attorney's office that prosecuted Ramos and Compean.

"There's an alarming pattern here," said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.

Said Rep. Michael McCaul, an Austin Republican whose district reaches into western Harris County: "There is a real question of how this case got to the attention of the Department of Homeland Security."

Justice and Homeland Security officials have said an internal investigation was initiated after the shooting was reported by a Border Patrol agent in Arizona friendly with Aldrete's family.

Justice refused to let San Antonio-based U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton testify Tuesday, saying his office had no dealings with the Mexican government in the case.

Homeland Security's inspector general, Richard Skinner, had agreed to testify but then backed out, Delahunt said.

It was Skinner's staff that went to Mexico and found Aldrete, working with Sutton's office to offer the smuggler immunity from prosecution for the 743-pound load of marijuana discovered in the van he abandoned before the shooting.

The hearing by Delahunt's subcommittee came just weeks after the Senate Judiciary Committee also examined the controversial prosecution, which has become a flashpoint in the immigration debate and a headache for the White House.

GOP conservatives, joined by a growing number of House Democrats, are demanding clemency for the two men, arguing that the federal government was overzealous in going after them and uncommonly generous in granting immunity and other favors to secure Aldrete's testimony.

Bush has refused to discuss his views about a possible pardon or commutation for the agents, who are gaining ever more attention on Capitol Hill.

The House Judiciary Committee plans a hearing.

And Delahunt said he intends to ask the House Homeland Security Committee to investigate.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hea ... 16875.html

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