Thread: Border agents who shot smuggler denied appeal

Sep 11, 5:12 PM EDT

Border agents who shot smuggler denied appeal

EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- Two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a drug smuggler and trying to cover it up have been denied a request for a new hearing.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans denied the request by Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean on Wednesday. The same court upheld the men's convictions in July.

No reason was given for the Wednesday's denial.

Ramos and Compean are each serving sentences of more than 10 years for shooting Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks while he was fleeing from an abandoned marijuana load in 2005.

Aldrete was sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison for his role in two seperate smuggling efforts later that same year.

http://tinyurl.com/43tr9p

Well folks, that's about all she wrote on this case.

The only thing that could save these men now would be a Presidential pardon or the Supreme Court and neither are likely to consider the case.

W

This is outrageous!

There is no way those two agents should endure those long terms.

You happy now Jorge and Johnny? Don't see how they can sleep at night after what they've done to these families.

Pounding on keyboard!!!

Another reason to vote for Chuck Baldwin:
http://www.alipac.us/modules.phpname=Fo ... c&p=767872

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

Ramos, Compean Lose Another Round in Court

Border Patrol agents sentences have become fodder for conservatives
By Jim Forsyth
Thursday, September 11, 2008

Former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean lost their final appeal before a federal appeals court today, which rejected a request by the pair to reconsider their conviction and lengthy sentences for shooting a drug dealer and then attempting to cover it up, 1200 WOAI news reports.

The full Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused to allow the entire court to consider the pair's appeal, a process which is called an appeal 'en banc.'

A panel of the court had already ruled that the men's request for a new trial had 'no merit.'

"With today's denial of a rehearing and a denial of an en banc hearing, I would again ask that those who have criticized the prosecution, generally relying upon misleading and at times false versions of what happened, to re-evaluate their positions in light of the court record," said U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, who has been severely criticized by conservatives for his prosecution of the two men.

The case of Compean and Ramos has become an icon to closed-border conservatives, as evidence that powerful forces, including the Bush Administration, do not support tighter border security.

Ramos and Compean were on routine border patrol duties near Fabens, in west Texas, in early 2005 when they chased a drug smuggler, Oswaldo Aldrete-Davila, as he sped toward the Mexican border.

They pulled their service weapons and fired several times, shooting the man in the buttocks. Prosecutors say Ramos and Compean then began an extensive cover up of the incident...picking up shell casings and cleaning the scene in violation of Border patrol policies.

Prosecutors say the fleeing drug dealer 'posed no threat,' although the agents say he turned toward them with what they believed to be a gun.

The appeals court, said the willingness of the jury to believe the prosecutions' story about the events, and not the Agents' is the 'bottom line' on the guilt of the agents.

Among its rulings, the court upheld the trial judge's decision not to allow the jury to consider evidence of Duarte-Davila's drug running activities, or that he was convicted later that year for trying to bring another load of drugs into the U.S. and is now in federal prison.


The court also ruled that the trial judge did not have the authority to sentence Ramos and Compean to any less that the 12 and 12 year sentences they are now serving.

http://radio.woai.com/cc-common/news/se ... le=4228154

After finding out THIS, I got SICK ALL over again! President Bush, you NEED to LET these GOOD men GO!!! NOW!!! Or the GOOD Lord will HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE!!!

Johnny Sutton, George Bush, Gonzales, and several judges have to be in cahoots with the Mexican drug cartels. One day, we will learn the truth, and these people will pay.

Yes, and we ALL need to HOPE and PRAY that Ramos and Compean will STILL be AROUND! Sometimes I have NIGHTMARES that prison life might KILL them!

Originally Posted by butterbean

Johnny Sutton, George Bush, Gonzales, and several judges have to be in cahoots with the Mexican drug cartels. One day, we will learn the truth, and these people will pay.

Yea, I've wondered about that.