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Ramos and Compean Victim Indicted

Mike

Well-known member
Mexican Drug Smuggler Shot by Border Agents Indicted on Drug Smuggling Charges
Friday , November 16, 2007

EL PASO, Texas —

The arrest of an admitted Mexican drug smuggler shot by a pair of U.S. Border Patrol agents is prompting renewed calls for the former law-enforcement officials' release from prison.

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was arrested Thursday at an international port of entry in El Paso; a sealed indictment issued in October charged him with drug smuggling offenses.

"These guys absolutely need to be pardoned," Rep. Tom Tancredo, R.-Colo., told FOX News on Friday.

The agents, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, were convicted last year of shooting Aldrete and lying about it. The agents were each sentenced to more than a decade in prison.

"This whole thing with Davila shows you how rotten the deal is they got," Tancredo said.

Aldrete is scheduled to appear in federal court in El Paso on Friday.

A sealed indictment was issued in October charging Davila with possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, conspiracy to import a controlled substance, and conspiracy with intent to distribute a controlled substance. According to the indictment, Aldrete committed the crimes in September and October 2005, several months after he was shot in the buttocks while fleeing from a pair of Border Patrol agents.

"For more than a year, critics of the prosecution ... have complained that Aldrete, the fleeing, unarmed drug smuggler they shot, should have been prosecuted for drug smuggling," U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton said in a written statement. "I have repeatedly said that if we obtain sufficient competent and admissible evidence against Aldrete, we would prosecute him."

Aldrete's shooting and the subsequent arrest and conviction of Ramos and Compean caused a national firestorm among conservative lawmakers and others. Critics of Sutton have repeatedly called the prosecution unjustified and the sentences extreme.

In July, conservative Republicans won initial House support for an effort to cut federal funding to house the former agents in prison.

U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, said Thursday that Aldrete's arrest and indictment should have come sooner.

"It's about time they arrested the drug dealer," Culberson said in a statement issued by his office in Washington. "It's long past time for them to release agents Ramos and Compean."

Joe Loya, Ramos' father-in-law, said the indictment was not surprising.

"He is a career criminal who has been smuggling drugs since he was 14," Loya said. "Who I really feel sorry for is his wife and children."

Opponents of the prosecution against Ramos and Compean have previously argued that Sutton's office ignored evidence that Aldrete, who acknowledged smuggling drugs the day he was shot in February, 2005, had smuggled drugs a second time. He was given immunity for the first smuggling attempt to testify against the agents.

According to testimony at the agents' trial, Aldrete encountered Border Patrol agents after crossing illegally into the U.S. from Mexico in a marijuana-loaded van. While fleeing from agents, he crashed the van and tried to run back to Mexico on foot.

Before he could make it back across the Rio Grande, Aldrete struggled with Compean, who later fired more than a dozen shots at the fleeing man. Ramos fired a single shot after finding Compean on the ground, shooting at Aldrete. It was Ramos' bullet that hit Aldrete.

Compean testified at trial that he shot in self-defense and fighting with Aldrete and then seeing what he believed to be a gun in Aldrete's hand. Ramos said he fired in defense of Compean.

Aldrete, who was severely wounded but managed to flee back around the river, denied having a gun and testified that he ran from Compean after the agent tried to hit him with the butt of a shotgun.

Both men acknowledged not reporting the incident. Several other Border Patrol agents at the scene that day who also did not report the shooting were not prosecuted.

The agents began serving their sentences in January.

If convicted of the drug charges, Aldrete faces up to 40 years in prison and a $2 million fine.
 

Tex

Well-known member
Boy, we have some screwed up prosecutors and judges.

I guess they think the "war on drugs" can be won if we throw everyone fighting it in prison.

What a travesty.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Will GW listen to his conservative buddies-- or will he pooh-pooh them away as he has the majority of the American public..... :???: :(

Fox News is reporting the letter was delivered to the White House today by Congressman Duncan Hunter....


INVASION USA
'Pardon Ramos and Compean now!'
Long-time Bush friend among 31 leaders signing letter to White House

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Posted: November 19, 2007
2:09 p.m. Eastern


By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com



More than 30 conservative leaders, including one of President Bush's long-time friends, have signed a letter urging Bush to pardon imprisoned Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

The move follows news that the drug smuggler in the case, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, was arrested last week at the Mexican border for alleged drug offenses committed while under immunity to testify as the star witness.

The leaders calling for a pardon include Paul Weyrich, chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation; Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of Eagle Forum; Morton Blackwell, chairman of the Conservative Leadership PAC; Frank Gaffney, Jr., president of the Center for Security Policy; and David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union.

Among the signatories of the letter – to be delivered to the White House today – is U.S. Marine Corps veteran Jim Martin, president of 60 Plus Association, whose ties with Bush go back to 1968.
---------

The letter chides Bush for being silent and inactive toward previous calls for him to pardon Ramos and Compean.

"We sincerely feel that your inaction and lack of immediacy to personally address the inhumane treatment of these two agents runs counter to the tenets of a compassionate conservative and the Christian values that many of your supporters find a sustaining beacon of your presidency," the letter said.

The leaders focus on moral concerns, choosing not to argue legal points. The principal concern is that the border agents' lives are at risk in their continuing incarceration.

-------------------

The conservatives' letter charged Bush's inactivity on the Ramos and Compean case have placed in doubt the his administration's commitment to border security.

"As Ramos and Compean sit in solitary confinement 23 out of 24 hours every day," the letter continued, "the failure to personally intercede on their behalf sends a chilling message to other Border Patrol agents and law enforcement officers who will now question their own professional judgment, mute their response and make our borders less secure."

The letter contrasted the immunity given Aldrete-Davila and the harsh punishment inflicted upon the Border Patrol agents.

"When an admitted illegal alien drug smuggler who repeatedly brings drugs into this country is given government immunity to testify against the very law enforcement officers hired to stop him," the letter stressed, "the American public sees the scales of justice tilting the wrong way."

The letter calls upon Bush "to demonstrate your compassion and willingness to forgive" and immediately consider pardoning Ramos and Compean.

--------

The signatories are Paul M. Weyrich, chairman and CEO, Free Congress Foundation; Phyllis Schlafly, president and founder, Eagle Forum; Louis P. Sheldon, chairman, Traditional Values Coalition; T.J. Bonner, president, National Border Patrol Council; Cliff Kincaid, president, America's Survival, Inc.; James J. Boulet, Jr., executive director, English First; Donald Irvine, chairman, Accuracy In Media; Ron Pearson, president, Council for America; C. Preston Noell III, president, Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.; Larry Helminiak, chairman Carroll County Republican Central Committee; Dr. William Greene, president, RightMarch.com; David A. Keene, chairman, American Conservative Union; Frank F. Gaffney, Jr., president, Center for Security Policy; James P. Backlin, vice president for Legislative Affairs, Christian Coalition of America; Chris Perkins, executive director, Coalition for a Conservative Majority; Peter Ferrara, general counsel, American Civil Rights Union, William J. Murray, chairman, Religious Freedom Coalition; Ron Wexler president, CEO, Ten Commandments Commission; Jack Wheeler, president, Freedom Research Foundation; Rev. Dr. Keith Roderick, Coalition for the Defense of Human Rights; Joyce E. Thomann, president, Republican Women of Anne Arundel County, Md.; Morton C. Blackwell, chairman, Conservative Leadership PAC; Roy Beck, president, NumbersUSA; Jim Martin, president, 60 Plus Association; Jay Dickey, former U.S. congressman; Colin A. Hanna, president, WeNeedAFence.com; Demos Chrissos, president, National Voters Alliance; Richard Falknor, executive vice president, MD Taxpayers Assoc., Inc.; Chris "Kit" Bromley, CEO, BCII; Mal Kline, executive director, Accuracy in Academia; and Alex-St. James, chairman, AARLC

full story:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58772
 

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