Senators, Others Seek Answers in Border Agents Case
By Fred Lucas
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
July 16, 2007

(CNSNews.com) - Patty Compean has a seemingly simple request for senators at an oversight hearing this week -- find out "what the heck happened."

The Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security on Tuesday will look into what happened to Compean's husband and another man, both former U.S. Border Patrol agents now serving lengthy prison terms.

Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos were sentenced to 12-year and 11-year jail terms respectively for shooting a Mexican drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, and for trying to cover it up. Their prosecution and imprisonment triggered a serious controversy.

"We still don't understand how the government pulled this off," Patty Compean told Cybercast News Service. "Anybody who has seen the evidence or read the transcript would know they didn't have a case."

Others involved in the affair, particularly U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas, say the case was about upholding the rule of law. Sutton, who has been pilloried by many interest groups and other critics for prosecuting the two men, will likely make that point again when he testifies before the subcommittee Tuesday.

"After a two and a half week jury trial, these former agents were convicted of shooting at and seriously wounding an unarmed, fleeing suspect who posed no threat to them. Instead of reporting the shooting as required, the agents covered it up, destroyed evidence and filed a false report," Sutton told Cybercast News Service. "My office would have much preferred to prosecute the smuggler but any chance of that was destroyed when they failed to arrest him and then proceeded to destroy the crime scene."

In one panel, the senators will hear from Sutton and Ralph Basham, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol. In a second panel, they will hear from T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, and from the defense attorneys for Ramos and Compean.

The key questions senators say they will focus on are why the case was brought in the first place, why the sentences were so severe, and why Aldrete-Davila had never been prosecuted for a second offense that allegedly took place after he had been given immunity to be the key witness in the prosecution of the two agents.

"Clearly they violated law according to jury verdict and the finding of the judge, but whether the punishment should be so severe as to require them to spend, in one case 11 and one case 12 years in the federal penitentiary, I think that's a valid question," Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Judiciary Committee, told reporters Thursday.

The case caused a storm earlier this year. More than 100 congressmen have co-sponsored a bill to pardon the agents, while many others have demanded that President Bush grant them a pardon.

Cornyn said the Senate panel will not retry the case, which is currently pending appeal before the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New Orleans. But he added, even if the prosecution was right in all its contentions, the punishment did not appear to fit the crime.

"The circumstances with which this occurred, as well as the length of their prison sentences are things that have caused people to wonder whether justice has really been served," he said.

Sutton has said that the sentence may well be severe, but pointed out that Congress sets sentencing guidelines.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who initiated the hearings, has disputed that point in letters to the Justice Department asking why charges carrying such heavy sentences had to be brought.

Sutton said, "It is the policy of the Department of Justice to bring the highest most readily provable charge against a defendant. We followed that policy in this case because what former agents Compean and Ramos did was a serious crime."

Cornyn also wants to know why certain charges were brought. He said the charge of use of a firearm in the commission of a crime should apply to law enforcement officers in this case.

Ramos and Compean were initially charged with the shooting and cover up, but were subsequently indicted on multiple other charges such as assault and weapons charges.

Ramos' wife, Monica Ramos, said that each time the agents denied a plea bargain, federal prosecutors would add new charges.

She said she was hopeful that Sutton and other officials would be forced to answer questions under oath.

"Johnny Sutton can't just have this one-liner in front of the committee," she said. "He'll be faced with the facts and the truth." But, she acknowledged, "I don't know if this hearing will help get my husband out of jail."

Patty Compean admitted she had lost some hope in the government's ability to handle the matter. She wondered why a hearing had not been held sooner. Feinstein first made the request in February.

"I really don't know if it will make a difference," she said. "I've worn my heart on my shirt sleeve so many times, thinking 'this is it,'" she said. "I hope the hearing is not just a waste of hot air and a waste of space. I hope they actually accomplish something."

The senators must ensure that the hearing is worthwhile, said Andy Ramiraz, president of the California-based Friends of the Border Patrol, which has advocated for Ramos and Compean.

Ramiraz said he hoped the senators would ask about Aldrete-Davila's subsequent alleged drug offense drug charge and whether the government of Mexico had played a role in the prosecution.

He also hoped they would explore a claim by the Homeland Security Department's inspector general's office that the two agents had set out to shoot a Mexican -- a claim he said the inspector general later admitted was untrue.

"They don't have time to ask fluff questions and get fluff answers," Ramiraz told Cybercast News Service. "Two men are still in American gulags today."


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