Of course he has to justify himself! I'm sending this story to Rep. Rohrabcher!
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May 10, 2007, 9:39PM
U.S. attorney defends prosecution of Border Patrol agents


By ANNE MARIE KILDAY
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle
Despite months of criticism from the media and members of Congress, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas has stepped up his defense in a decision to prosecute two former Border Patrol agents who shot an illegal immigrant and suspected drug smuggler two years ago.

Sutton told the Houston Chronicle on Thursday that "the rule of law" required him to prosecute former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean who are appealing their March 2006 convictions on federal charges stemming from the February 2005 shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila. Aldrete-Davila was unarmed and fleeing the Border Patrol when he was wounded by one of 15 shots fired at him by the two agents.

The case has become a flashpoint in the national debate over immigration reform, with immigration-control advocates and conservative House Republicans hailing Compean and Ramos as heroes unfairly prosecuted by the government.

"The facts have been misrepresented as 'These guys are American heroes doing their job, and a drug dealer has been set free,'" Sutton said in an interview with the Houston Chronicle editorial board.

"All I want to do is get the truth out, and I think the way to get the truth out is to duke it out in the public sphere," Sutton said. "That's what I am trying to do now, is to get the facts out."

The former Harris County prosecutor said he came to Houston to appear on the Edd Henry talk radio show, where the host has taken to calling him "Johnny Satan."

"I'm giving him the benefit of a doubt," Sutton said. He added: "I try not to take it personally. I went on that show because I grew up on the west side. I know Edd doesn't have many listeners, but the listeners he does have are on the west side of Houston."

Despite repeated criticism by conservative Republican congressmen, Sutton also said that he had not been contacted by or corresponded personally with any member of Congress.

"No, not that I recall. I do not recall any contacts about this," Sutton said. He said that he has run into people who have expressed concern about his well-being, after reading about him on the Internet.

Sutton said, "There's been quite a bit of nastiness," including personal threats, since the case went to trial. He said a few of those threats were reported to law enforcement officials.

Sutton said the two agents failed to report the shooting, "chucked" shells from their weapons into the Rio Grande and covered up the shooting.

Compean and Ramos are appealing their convictions, and their sentences of 12 and 11 years, respectively.

Sutton said those sentences are "stiff" but were set by Congress, for criminal acts committed while using firearms.

"I think a lot of this comes down to disagreement about punishment," Sutton said. "All I can say is, it's a lot of time, it's a lot of years, but it is what Congress set in place."

The two Border Patrol agents claimed at trial that they believed Aldrete-Davila had "a shiny object in his hand."

"Nobody claimed that, until a month later, when the investigators finally arrested people," Sutton said.

More than 250,000 Americans have signed an Internet petition urging President Bush to pardon the two men.

Sutton said that he believes that most members of the Border Patrol are true heroes.

"The Border Patrol truly are American heroes. Most of them are doing it right, and we back them up in court every day. They are our star witnesses every day ...," Sutton said. "But, when they cross over the line and they commit crimes, we cannot look the other way. And that's what we did not do in this case."

Sutton said he probably should have responded sooner and more aggressively to the steady drumbeat of criticism.

"Hindsight is 20-20 vision," Sutton said. "In this case, the misinformation has been so extensive and has become a narrative far and wide," Sutton said. "It's important to get the true facts on the table, because at some point, if the misinformation is repeated over and over again without anybody rebutting it, then all of a sudden it becomes true — at least in people's minds."

Sutton said that it is not true that Aldrete-Davila has subsequently been arrested in connection with another attempted drug smuggling attempt in October.

That case "is under investigation," Sutton said. "He has never been charged, he has never been arrested."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/met ... 94596.html