The two border agents convicted of shooting an unarmed suspected drug smuggler have not been pardoned but rather have had their sentences commuted by President Bush. They’ve served a few years of their decade law prison terms and will be released some time in March. Honestly, I haven’t been as informed on this issue as I probably should have been.
PWConservative recently wrote a thread entitled – Badges of Dishonour where he makes a compelling case against clemency for these guys. Good news is these guys are still convicted felons and as such will never again work in law enforcement.
Great writing PWConservative. I thought I heard the person was smuggling drugs, not that the excused the subsequent behavior of the border patrol officers, just pointing out that the drug perspective was used to villify the border jumper and exonerate the border patrol officers. Does anyone know if that component of the story is true? The way the virulent anti illegal propoganda machine was behaving, you’d have the kid pulled out an AR 15 and started spraying bullets everywhere.
From what I understand, the two officers stopped the smugglers vehicle on our side of the border. It had approximately 700 lbs. of pot in it. He took off and made a run for the Rio Grande River. He was shot and found to be unarmed.
Thanks for the info Ivan.
The way I see it if drug smugglers thought we may shoot them, then maybe there would be less drug smuggling. Oh that’s right, it wouldn’t be the ‘proper’ way to protect our border. Therefore we’ll just embolden the smugglers by letting them know that our border agents won’t dare use any force against them. Lets put all the agents in jail. After all they’re interfering with poor people just trying to earn money to feed their families, and provide a better future, right. This is what society has finally come to when the criminal is considered the victim, and the victim is considered the criminal. Only in America! Sad.
Second Alamo,
What happened to the “rule of law” mantra? Border Patrol agents, along with any other armed public servants, are held to a higher standard, this isn’t the wild west.
p.s. SA, I’ve missed you, I hope all has been well with you and yours 🙂
Many people came to the anti-immigration table because of the situation with these 2 border agents. People have been outraged. I believe commuting their sentence was a good idea. Too many different versions of what happened are out there. Probably only 3 people really know what happened: Ramos, Compean, and the perp.
I just had to come back to this one….you know, if you smuggle drugs into this country and just happen to get shot in the ass while doing it….boo f-ing hoo. We don’t owe you jack! Keep your trash out of here. Not so sound like a black velvet but ……I am glad Compean and Ramos are out.
The Border Patrol is one of the most incompetent and corrupt organizations out there. When the smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, tried to surrender, and Compean swung the butt of his shotgun at him, the smuggler had good cause to fear for his life. He was right to run for his life. Running away probably saved his life. The fact that these two criminals with badges loosed a hail of gunfire at an unarmed fleeing man is proof that Aldrete-Davila should have run for it. The fact that these two criminals with badges shot an unarmed man in the back, would have justified Aldrete-Davila actions if he had turned and killed both of them in self defense.
You don’t stop being a human being with the right to live just because some thugs with badges think of you as an animal to be beaten and slaughtered for their amusement.
It’s indisputable that Ramos and Compean tried to cover up the shooting. For that alone, they should be imprisoned. Then they lied through their teeth and said Aldrete-Davila ‘pointed something shiny’ that ‘looked like a gun’. This is the classic lie that’s been told a million times whenever these thugs need to get away with unjustifiably killing someone.
Michael Moore shed some light on this issue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeOaTpYl8mE
Do these idiots really have the right to kill us because we have a cell phone in our hands and we’re using it to call our lawyer?
Anti-immigrant types defend Ramos and Compean because deep down inside, they want to send a terrifying message to immigrants. The message they want to send is:
If you cross the border illegally, you might get shot.
Actually the Southern border IS the wild west from the reports and goings on. It certainly isn’t civilized, as say, Woodbridge? You’re right, we are held to a higher standard, but when millions are held to no standard it starts to wear a little thin when two of ours makes mistakes and are thrown in prison for it while the millions roam free. Not only free, but given support by my taxes.
Mackie,
Give me a break, if they were as ruthless as you describe, then they wouldn’t have left him alive as a witness now would they? Use some common sense instead of ignorance, unless of course you’re going for the OJ defense, then “Ignorance is bliss!”
With respect to the drugs, they didn’t know the van had drugs in it at the time they shot him. When they shot him, they didn’t know he was a drug trafficker. They didn’t know that he had crossed the border either. He was just a guy driving a van near the border, suspicious enough to pull over, but evidently the jury didn’t believe it was just cause to shoot him.
I believe in always giving the benefit of the doubt to lawmen. In the heat of the chase with adrenaline flowing and the ever present threat of a violent suspect with less than a second to make a decision, I believe we should be very careful in second guessing the decisions they make, and people who can’t conduct themselves appropriately under those conditions should not be carrying a badge. But when they cleaned up the crime scene, it wasn’t under the heat of battle, and they had time to think about what they were doing.
So I’m glad President Bush did what he did. I think it was the best thing to do. These guys won’t be able to work in law enforcement again. They won’t even be able to get a job as a Mall Cop. They can move on with their lives. Other BP agents are on notice. And the next administration will be burdened with one less controversial issue.
They probably deserved punishment of some type, but here’s the profoundly disturbing part to many Americans.
The U.S. Attorney in Texas, Johnny Sutton, very deliberately gave immunity to the drug dealer for the sake of prosecuting and persecuting these two guys – who were lazy or screw-ups but not part of any type of criminal conspiracy. The drug dealer was and is part of a huge crimninal conspiracy.
The ostensible rationale is because the drug dealing community was angry that their guy got shot at, and it could lead to further violence. As opposed to a more genteel form of drug smuggling.
So the choice was made to systematically persecute the two border agents. A choice I am highly suspicious of.
So the war on drugs is not especially important, the fight against narco-terrorism should only be undertaken with kid gloves on. And the fight for border security is to be taken as a complete joke. Ensuring that our officers follow the rules trumps war on drugs or border security.
So the drug dealer gets immunity. Sick. The other was to handle this was to prosecute the officers but not “at any cost”.
And if narcoterrorists get angry at you – OK. We should be fighting with drug smugglers, not placating them.
Sutton appears to me to be corrupt on a level that Ramos and Compeon are not.
When the drug dealer was offered immunity, he was in Mexico, and his identity was unknown. It’s not as if they offered immunity to a guy in custody who they knew was driving that van. Had Fife and Clouseau done what they were supposed to do, the drug dealer WOULD have been in custody and brought up on charges of drug trafficking.
What was disturbing to me was that the officers never reported the shooting. From what I understand they gathered up the shell casings, tossed them in a ditch and made no mention of the incident UNTIL after an investigation was launched. In my mind, if the shooting was justified then why wouldn’t they have followed the proper procedures for reporting it? That’s what makes me doubt the validity of the officers innocence.
Yeah. And then Johnny Sutton fights like a pit bull to jail them as if for murder. There’s more to this than meets the eye.
Alanna, they’re not innocent. But that doesn’t mean it makes sense to prosecute them with a vengeance, so as to placate the drug running community.
I love how these fake motivations to prosecute get made up just to get the Lou Dobbs Heads all a’ spinnin’ with rage. Don’t these poor saps have enough reasons to freak out as it is?
Glad it’s not a pardon. But also I am fine with them walking. They are no danger to society now.
Let’s put this in perspective.
2 criminal thugs with badges pull over a hispanic male near the border. Even though they had no evidence of a crime, they arrest him. When they try to club him, he realizes his life is in danger and runs for it. If he had stood there like a naive idiot, he probably would be dead now.
Then these criminals with badges commit attempted murder by shooting at a man who had every reason to run.
What else do you call shooting at a fleeing unarmed man in the back if not attempted murder???
Would these thugs with badges have pulled over a blonde haired blue eyed sorority girl? Would they have tried to shoot her if she got scared and ran away?
If hispanic males near the border can expect to be arrested, clubbed, and shot at simply for being hispanic males, then what choice do hispanic males have except…sincere self defense?
“Even though they had no evidence of a crime” A truckload of marijuana
“Even though they had no evidence of a crime” That’s his story. Perhaps he ran because he was found with a truckload of marijuana.
“What else do you call shooting at a fleeing unarmed man in the back if not attempted murder???”
I don’t doubt that he was running away and they thought he had a gun and when he turned they thought he was going to fire at them. Why do you doubt it? You think they were out to murder the first guy they found out there?