Thread: GEORGE PUTMAN : BORDER AGENTS UNDER THE GUN

Border Agents Under the Gun

George Putnam
Friday, Jan. 19, 2007




It is this reporter's opinion that in my 72 years reporting and commenting in the news, I have never witnessed anything that equals the miscarriage of justice evidenced in the case of two courageous border patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.

They are being imprisoned for risking their lives to protect ours from a violent Mexican illegal alien drug smuggler.

Amid protests, 250 communications and statements by Republican and Democratic representatives, the two agents are to serve 11 and 12 years in prison.

A federal judge, Kathleen Cardone of El Paso, Texas, denied Ramos and Compean's motion to remain out on bond while they appeal their case.

Cardone ruled that because the defendants had been convicted by a jury for a crime of violence the motion was denied. Cardone's response to the motion read, "The court finds that no exceptional reasons exist in this case."

It is this reporter's opinion that the two border agents are suffering from the worst miscarriage of justice in the history of our legal system.

Ramos and Compean are not even allowed to remain with their families during an appeal process. They are the true victims of injustice — not the person who entered the United States illegally, transported 743 lbs. of marijuana illegally across the international border, assaulted a federal agent, and defied all of the rules outlined by our immigration statutes.

To top this indiscretion on the part of the judge and the court, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, the smuggler, was given immunity by the U.S. government, in exchange for testifying against the agents.

He was actually brought back from Mexico to give testimony. And, according to one report, Aldrete-Davila was also guilty of a subsequent attempt to bring drugs into the United States. He is now suing the U.S. Border Patrol for $5 million. The White House and the attorney general have not responded to this situation with a single word, pro or con.

Others across the nation have.

T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council representing more than 11,000 border patrol agents, says the government is sending a bad message to all law enforcement officers by putting these men in prison.

Bonner says, "In addition to tearing apart Ramos and Compean's families, it destroys the morale of law enforcement officers across the nation and undermines the public's faith in our system of justice."

Representative Ted Poe, a Texas republican, along with 75 other congressmen, calls a decade in prison for each man harsh punishment. "The government had to choose between supporting a drug dealer or supporting their own border agents," Poe said. "They chose to support a drug dealer. The federal government is thus on the wrong side of the border."

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California puts it bluntly. He called President Bush a "disgrace." But the action by the courts in this situation will encourage defiance by illegals and they will redouble in their smuggling efforts.

Already the shooting of 22-year-old Francisco Rivera has drawn commendation from the new president of Mexico. So here we have the government of Mexico protesting the death of another illegal alien involved in another confrontation. In other words, this is just the beginning.

The shooting came during confrontation with one of our agents at the Mexican border. The dead man's mother calls for the death penalty. Still not a single word from the White House or the attorney general. The only response has come from White House spokesman Tony Snow who has said he could not comment about a possible presidential pardon and repeats the words of the judge that the court finds no exceptional reasons exist in this case: "Border guards must obey the law, too."

Snow continues to deflect questions about the president enforcing the laws the U.S. already has to secure its borders and deport illegals who break the law to enter the United States.

Now, as these two young men begin their prison terms leaving behind wives and a total of six young children, comes word that three members of the jury who ruled against them have retracted and now say that they were coerced in ruling against Ramos and Compean.

Three jurors say they were coerced into convicting the two agents.

Judge Cardone, the prosecution, and the jury got it wrong the first time and now it seems they have it wrong again!

This ruling by judge and jury is the most disgraceful act I have heard of in the history of our great nation. Judge Cardone and the prosecutors should be ashamed of themselves for distorting the facts in the case.

The two dedicated border patrolmen are now behind bars and the drug smuggler is free to go about his illicit traffic in drug pedaling and thumbing his nose at us all of us while justice weeps.

And yet still no response from the White House or attorney general.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/article ... 4523.shtml

On C-span this morning I heard and it is my understanding that the border agents were well within the law when they shot the fleeing drug smuggler. Drug smugglers have been shot before. But, where they broke the law is when they lied and tried to cover it up by not reporting the incident and getting rid of the shell casings. It was on this evidence that they were found guilty. Now that I’ve heard the evidence that convicted them, they should be in prison. Especially because they are on the border as law enforcers and should be held at a higher standard than any other law breakers. I do not know if the sentence fit the crime or not.

MY QUESTION IS WHY DID THEY COVER IT UP? IT WOULD HAVE BEEN THEIR WORD AGAINST THE SMUGGLER IF THEY THOUGHT HE WAS ARMED.

U.S. Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of Texas
Johnny Sutton, U.S. Attorney FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Shana Jones, Special Assistant October 23, 2006 Daryl Fields, Public Information Officer (210) 384-7452 RESPONSE OF UNITED STATES ATTORNEY JOHNNY SUTTON TO SENTENCING OF BORDER PATROL AGENTS COMPEAN AND RAMOS In my opinion, United States Border Patrol agents are some of America’s most unsung heroes. They have an enormously difficult job. They routinely go up against drug traffickers and alien smugglers often in the middle of the night in some of the most remote and inhospitable areas of the United States. At times, they face great danger. The law recognizes that agents will make mistakes, and the government takes responsibility for good faith mistakes made in the line of duty. But no agent is given license to willfully shoot an unarmed, fleeing suspect in the back simply because the job is difficult, dangerous, or important. The simple truth of this case is that Agents Compean and Ramos shot 15 times at an unarmed man who was running away from them and posed no threat. They lied about what happened, covered up the shooting, conspired to destroy the evidence and then proceeded to write up and file a false report. Agent Compean and Ramos were not railroaded by some over-zealous prosecutor, they were unanimously found guilty by a jury in a United States Federal District Court after a trial that lasted more than two and a half weeks. The two agents were represented by experienced and aggressive trial attorneys, both of whom vigorously challenged the Government’s evidence through cross examination. Both agents told their stories from the witness stand and had full opportunities to explain their version of events and to offer their own evidence. The jury heard everything including the defendant’s claims of self defense. The problem for Mr. Compean and Mr. Ramos is that the jury did not believe their stories because they were not true. The trial evidence showed that around 1:00 p.m. Aldrete (the Mexican alien) initially ran from the agents, but surrendered with his empty hands raised over his head after Agent Compean pointed his shotgun at him. As Agent Compean tried to push Aldrete down to the ground with the butt of his shotgun, Compean tripped and fell and Aldrete took off again toward the Rio Grande River and Mexico. Compean chased Aldrete firing at him with his pistol fourteen times, pausing once to reload and then shoot some more. Agent Ramos shot once and struck Aldrete in the buttocks. Neither agent made any further effort to apprehend him. After the shooting, Compean and Ramos decided to lie to their supervisors about the shooting and picked up and threw away the fired shell casings. Next they filed a false investigative report leaving out any mention of the confrontation with the alien. – more –
Sutton statement – Ramos and Compean sentencing October 23, 2006 Page 2 If Compean and Ramos truly believed Aldrete was a threat, why did they abandon him after shooting him? And if they truly believed the shooting was justified, why did they not report it, leave the scene undisturbed, and let the investigation absolve them? The answers to these questions are simple. The agents knew that Aldrete did not pose a threat as he fled, they knew the shooting was unjustified and unlawful, and they knew an investigation would incriminate them. So they chose to cover up their crime. In America, law enforcement officers do not get to shoot unarmed suspects who are running away, lie about it to their supervisors and file official reports that are false. That is a crime and prosecutors cannot look the other way. My office would have much preferred to see Aldrete convicted and sent to prison for his crimes. We are in the business of putting guys like him in the penitentiary. We do it every day. But since the agents could not identify him, found no fingerprints, could not tie him to the van and did not apprehend him after shooting him, the case against Aldrete could not be proved. The agents' criminal behavior, lies and efforts to conceal their crime destroyed their credibility before any jury. Confronted with the willful and illegal use of deadly force by experienced Border Patrol agents, and insufficient evidence to prosecute the marijuana violation, prosecutors promised Aldrete they would not use his truthful statements and testimony to prosecute him. This type of “use immunity” is authorized by federal statute, and federal prosecutors around the country routinely make similar representations to obtain crucial testimony. As a practical matter, the promise to Aldrete gave up very little, but allowed us to investigate a serious crime of violence. Contrary to the claims of Compean, Ramos and others, this does not make the border less secure. Allowing lawless and wanton violence by even two Border Patrol agents to go unaddressed only invites further escalation of violence along the border. Finally, Congress determined the penalties imposed on Compean and Ramos, by setting the punishment for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence at imprisonment for at least ten years, on top of any other sentence imposed. Although the penalty is stiff, Congress intended to deter and severely punish the unlawful use of guns and made no exception for law enforcement officers. If we are to demand that the laws be followed on our Southwest border we must be prepared to apply them to our own agents when they willfully and intentionally violate them. ###