Thread: Pardon Ramos and Compean now

Pardon Ramos and Compean now


December 17, 2007


Last week, the White House released a list of 29 pardons issued by President Bush. It included drug dealers, carjackers, a moonshiner, a man convicted of stealing government property and another for receiving kickbacks in military procurement contracts. Conspicuously missing were former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean — who are currently serving 11- and 12-year federal prison sentences, respectively, for shooting a suspected drug smuggler in the buttocks on Feb, 17, 2005, about 30 miles southeast of El Paso. The border agents were convicted by a federal jury on charges that included assault with a dangerous weapon; lying about the incident; and violating the alleged smuggler's Fourth Amendment right to be protected against illegal search and seizure. The Ramos/Compean prosecutions are but one in a series of questionable ones undertaken against law enforcement personnel who used force against criminals or illegal aliens by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, a longtime political ally of Mr. Bush.

The man the agents shot, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, fled to Mexico after refusing Ramos's and Compean's orders to stop and abandoning a van carrying 743 pounds of marijuana. Mr. Aldrete-Davila was located in Mexico by an investigator with the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general and offered immunity for his testimony against the border agents. The suspected drug smuggler subsequently filed a $5 million suit against the federal government for violating his civil rights. "This case represents the worst kind of distorted and upside-down values," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California Republican, said last year. "The drug smugglers are treated like innocent victims and the good guys protecting our borders are given the harshest possible punishment."

Last month, Mr. Aldrete-Davila was arrested on charges of trafficking marijuana in September and October 2005 — after he had been granted immunity freeing him from prosecution for the nearly $1 million worth of marijuana he had smuggled into the United States in February of that year.

"This case was not only overzealously prosecuted by the government, [but] it sends a message to every law-enforcement agent that if you shoot in the line of duty and cannot prove you were justified in using deadly force [something that can be very difficult to do when dealing with split-second, life-or-death decisions, to which their are no witnesses other than the parties themselves] you will be prosecuted and receive about 10 years incarceration," argued attorney David Botsford, who represents Ramos.

There is a growing, bipartisan understanding in Congress that Ramos and Compean do not belong in prison. Lawmakers ranging from conservative Republicans like Mr. Rohrabacher and fellow California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter to liberal Democrats like Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California and Rep. Bill Delahunt of Massachusetts have raised objects to the incarceration of Ramos and Compean. The president should correct this oversight now and pardon the men so they can be home with their families for Christmas.

http://washingtontimes.com

WHOA. the washington Times gets it but the jerk who calls himself president doesnt??? i dont believe it

202-456-1111
keep calling the white house and complain