http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_4333711

Article Launched: 9/14/2006 12:00 AM

Congress looks to step in
Congress letter expresses need for review of agents' case

By Sara A. Carter, Staff Writer
Inland Valley Daily Bulletin

Sentencing should be delayed for two Border Patrol agents facing 20 years apiece in jail for shooting a drug smuggler and violating his civil rights, 22 congressmen told the Department of Justice Wednesday.

In an official letter, the congressmen asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to postpone sentencing and review the case against Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.
"Due to significant concerns over the circumstances surrounding the prosecution of agents Ramos and Compean, the House Judiciary Committee has already recognized the need for a thorough review of this case by calling for congressional hearings and an investigation of the Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the U.S. Attorney's Office," the letter stated.

In a separate letter to the Justice Department, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, echoed his colleagues' concerns.

"If the facts I have laid out are accurate, then this prosecution puts the rights of illegal alien drug smugglers ahead of our homeland security and undermines the critical mission of better enforcing current immigration laws," Gohmert said.

Justice Department spokeswoman Kathleen Blomquist said the department had received the letters and is planning a response to the congressional request. She said any comment specifically about the agents' case had to come from the Texas U.S. Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the agents.

Ramos and Compean are facing prison time for their role in the nonfatal shooting of Mexican national Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, who ran away from the agents after entering the United States from Mexico with a van filled with nearly 800 pounds of marijuana. Ramos shot at the smuggler, who he believed pointed a gun at him during the foot chase along the Rio Grande River.

The agents were convicted earlier this year by an El Paso jury.

Aldrete-Davila is suing the Border Patrol for $5 million for civil rights violations.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton defended the agents' successful prosecution by Assistant U.S. Attorney Deborah Kanof.

"These agents shot an unarmed suspect as he was running away," Sutton said in a news release Wednesday. "If they honestly believed the shootings were justified, then they had no reason to lie about it and destroy the evidence.

"Mr. Compean and Mr. Ramos both told their stories at trial, as did the victim and numerous other witnesses. Texas juries are very well aware of the tough job Border Patrol agents have in this state and give them the benefit of the doubt. In this case, after hearing all the evidence from both sides, the jury didn't buy the defendants' stories."

Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., who helped draft the congressional letter, said that after reviewing the agents' case, he and his colleagues noted a number of serious problems with the prosecution.

At a press conference last week, House members, along with Uvalde County, Texas Sheriff Terry Crawford; TJ Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, and Andy Ramirez, chairman of Chino-based Friends of the Border Patrol, discussed evidence they believe needs further review by the Justice Department.

The contingent said they were concerned that past assaults and violence against Border Patrol agents was not admissible in the court, and questioned the Border Patrol's official "no pursuit" policy, which prevents agents from pursuing fleeing suspects unless authorized by a supervisor.

Kanoff told the Daily Bulletin in an interview last month that the agents violated their own pursuit policy and should never have attempted to apprehend Aldrete-Davila in the first place.

Ramos broke an 18-month silence about his altercation with Aldrete-Davila in an exclusive interview published in the Daily Bulletin Aug. 6. Compean has been asked by his attorney to not speak to the media while the men's Oct. 18 sentencing hearing is pending.


Sara A. Carter can be reached by e-mail at sara.carter@dailybulletin.com or by phone at (909) 483-8552.