Thread: Some seek pardons for two agents in shooting

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Border Patrol shooting
Do you think the two El Paso Border Patrol agents convicted in March of shooting a drug smuggler in the buttocks and covering it up deserve the 10 years in prison they could receive when sentenced?
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http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_4382680

Article Launched: 09/23/2006 12:00:00 AM MDT

Some seek pardons for two agents in shooting
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times


The case of two former El Paso Border Patrol agents who shot a drug smuggler in the buttocks last year has become a cause celebre among elected officials and activists.

Since their conviction in March on several counts of assault, weapons crimes, tampering and deprivation of civil rights, former agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean and their family members have appeared on national news shows such as CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" and Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor." Members of the U.S. House and Senate have vowed to conduct hearings on their case, and a petition asking President Bush to pardon them is circulating on the Internet.

The plight of the agents is striking a chord with Americans at a time when the United States is focusing on border security and asking more from Border Patrol agents.

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, a union, said the case "offends (Americans') basic sense of justice."

Relief

Joe Loya, Ramos' father in law, said that at first the families heeded the advice of their lawyers and kept to themselves. But after the conviction, which came as shock to them, they reached out. Through Bonner, they met Friends of the Border Patrol, a California group that directed them to national media outfits.

The attention came as a relief for the emotionally and financially stressed El Pasoans.

They received hundreds of e-mails, phone calls and letters sympathizing with what they call their "nightmare." They also received money from a relief fund set up by the National Border Patrol Council. Bonner said the fund has $80,000. Loya said his family is down $200,000 in legal fees and lost earnings.

"We have received a lot of support from California and Arizona, more than here in El Paso," Loya said. "One man in Hawaii donated $1,000 to the legal fund. And we don't even know him."

Support comes mostly from conservative elected officials and conservative groups. But last month, U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote letters to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to personally review the case, and to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, requesting a Senate hearing to review the case.

Pardon

It is not clear how successful these various efforts will be.

At least 22 House members have vowed to conduct a hearing to review the case, including U.S. Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims. The hearing has not been scheduled, but Carlos Espinoza, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., said it might take place before the Nov. 7 elections.

On the Senate side, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Citizenship, is not pushing for a hearing on the case of Compean and Ramos.

"The senator has the highest respect for folks who wear a uniform, but this is an issue that has been decided in a court of law," said Brian Walsh, a spokesman for Cornyn.

In El Paso, U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, a former Border Patrol sector chief, has said he respected the jury's decision and would not seek to intervene.

Cornyn will run for re-election in 2008. Reyes is running for reelection in November, as are Feinstein, Hostettler and Tancredo.

The National Border Patrol Council is asking for the appointment of a special counsel to reinvestigate the case. House members are asking that the sentencing, scheduled for Oct. 19, be postponed and the case reinvestigated. And a group calling itself Grassfire is circulating an online petition asking for a presidential pardon.

Steve Elliott, president of Grassfire, did not return requests for comment, but his Web site (www.grassfire.org) says the petition has gathered almost 125,000 signatures.

Sense of justice

The supporters of Compean and Ramos tend to focus on the fact that the drug smuggler was offered immunity and some free treatment for his injuries, which included a severed urethra, in exchange for his testimony.

"The demoralizing prosecution of agents Ramos and Compean puts the rights of illegal alien drug smugglers ahead of our homeland security and undermines the critical mission of better enforcing current immigration laws," said U.S. Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.

The letter Jones and 20 other House members signed calls the prosecution of Compean and Ramos "incomprehensible."

Many Web sites contain spiteful attacks against Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanof.

Ramos and Compean were prosecuted because they shot at a man who was running away and because they did not report the shooting to their supervisors. Compean also picked up his shell casings and asked another agent to pick up shell casings, according to trial testimony. The agents claimed that the smuggler looked as if he had a gun and that their only mistake was not to report the shooting, which usually warrants an administrative penalty. They are now facing 10 years in prison.

Several representatives interviewed did not seem familiar with the case, beyond television reports.

Kathleen Joyce, press secretary for Jones, said Jones learned of the case from watching Lou Dobbs and later read news releases from the U.S. attorney's office. Hostettler said that when he committed last month to pushing for a hearing, he had heard of the case from his constituents in Indiana and hadn't talked to the U.S. attorney or read the case file.

In her letter to Specter, Feinstein urged the Senate to explore what she calls "irregularities" in the prosecution of the agents. But press representatives at her office could not explain what she meant.

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.

I voted no of course, they should get a medal instead.

I thought that these fellows were not seeking pardon? That they wanted exoneration.

loservillelabor
I may be wrong about this, I think because these 2 border agents were found guilty in a court of law b a jury, they would either have to get a new trial on appeal or be pardoned by the governor or president not much luck there I am thinking! I am not sure this could just be overturned by Congress , guess it could be overturned by appeal of an higher court, you need someone who knows more about the law.