U.S. government still hiding facts in the case against Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean

August 12, 5:53 AM · Dave Gibson - Norfolk Crime Examiner

In July 2008, the government watchdog group known as Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department, for that agency´s failure to turn over certain documents related to former U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton’s prosecution of Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean.

The suit came after the government refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request for documents which detailed the agreement made between the governments of Mexico and the United States, which allowed drug smuggler Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila to return to this country, and actually testify against Ramos and Compean.

The FOIA request was filed by Judicial Watch on April 17, 2008. The government failed to respond within their own guidelines of 20 days, hence the lawsuit.

On August 10, 2009 Judicial Watch finally received the documents from the federal government. Unfortunately, a great deal of information was left out of the documents. The feds are using the excuse that law enforcement has the right to withhold certain evidence from the public when a case is still open. However, the case against Ramos and Compean has long been closed.

I recently spoke with Chris Farrel of Judicial Watch, who described the released federal documents as “less than satisfactory and incomplete.â€