House moves to free Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting Mexican drug dealer

[tritsofme]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House on Wednesday approved a move by conservative Republicans to try to set free two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug dealer.

After a long, emotional debate, the House voted by voice to block the Bureau of Prisons from keeping former agents Ignacio Ramos and Alonso Compean in federal prison. Ramos and Compean are serving 11- and 12-year federal prison sentences, respectively, for the 2005 shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila on the Texas border near El Paso.

Ramos is serving time at Yazoo City Federal Correctional Complex about 40 miles northeast of Jackson, Miss. He was severely beaten by other inmates at the prison in February.

The case has caused a furor among conservative lawmakers and on talk radio across the country.

Read more: http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/washington/index.ssf?/base/politics-0/1185419373146740.xml&storylist=washington

[napi21]

1. I NEVER agree with conservative TS hosts, but I don't think these two agents

should be in prison. I listened to the hearing where the prosecutor admited it would be a mistake to have given the drug dealer a free pass if they find out he continued to transport drugs into the US. He also said it COULD have been an over-reach to charge these two border patrol officers under the law that carried the mandatory 10 year sentence.

I wanbt to see these guys out, at least until their appeal is heard!

[Mojorabbit]

3. They shot him in the back

and then covered it up. I can't say it is ok for law enforcement to shoot unarmed people in the back and not get some time. They are not judge jury and executioner.

[saigon68]

7. They are killers

Like troop thugs they are getting their just rewards

Unlike thug libby

[RebelOne]

9. They didn't kill anyone. They just shot a drug deal in the ass.

[napi21]

12. They shot him IN THE ASS! Abd he was hurt sooo bad he

managed to bring ANOTHER load of drugs into the US from Mexico shortly after the incident!

[lovuian]

15. I agree these guys need to be set free

they did their jobs and got put in jail and beaten up...

Bush was putting out the word to the Border patrol let the drugs flow

[stressfulreality]

16. actually if you read the official story...

you'll see that they shot the drug smuggler because they thought he had a gun.
with all due respect - things that happen in the heat of an intense situation can be confusing. normal cops get away with doing things like this on a daily basis; these agents should not be so harshly punished.

DO YOU REALIZE HOW DANGEROUS IT IS TO WORK ON THE MEXICAN BORDER?

i remember the story where a state trooper got 30 days for killing an unarmed mentally ill man...

[Mojorabbit]

18. but you dont cover it up eom

[stressfulreality]

21. well, i do agree with you there...

but i also think that giving them such a harsh sentence is going to make other border patrol agents hesitate before trying to enforce our border laws. it's a bad example. these agents should be able to do their job without worrying about these damn illegals having more rights than they do! they shot a fucking drug smuggler for crying out loud!!

[FredScuttle]

26. Here's the effect I hope it will have on our border patrol agents

(ahem)

DON'T FUCKING SHOOT PEOPLE IN THE BACK AND THEN COVER IT UP

[niceypoo]

2. Everything that excites the right is bigotry based

Liberals, gays, blacks, immigrants, english only. Everything is about bigotry. Why cant this country see that?

[ToeBot]

4. As precedents go, this one should have an interesting run. nt

[Viva_La_Revolution]

5. It can't fly...

they are not the Judicial branch. :shrug:

[tritsofme]

6. I don't see what recourse the judiciary would have.

They can't compel Congress to appropriate monies, as that is their sole discretion.

This seems like a very deluded version of the "power of the purse" theory.

[meowomon]

8. WHERE ARE THE DEMS ON THIS ONE?

Hey, I am a life long "leftie", would be a card carrying aclu member if I wanted to pay the $$ and a firm beliver that pot should be legal, but if you know anything about this case, it is clear that it was a malicious prosecution by a Justice department in cahoots with the Mexican drug mafia, aka the Mexican government. The "victim" was a known violent drug runner with family in the Mexican Mafia. Dig deeper and you will see the Bush administration's dirty fingerprints all over this too.

[maxrandb]

10. Puh-leeeeeeeze!

You need to look into what the Republican appointed prosecutor of this case has to say. FYI - He's a "law and order" conservative that has nothing but bona-fide conservative credentials.

He was making the rounds of some of the shows recently and was basically pleading with the "wing-nuts" not to swallow the spin from the "hate-radio" bastards, but to actually take a look at the facts on this case!

These agents are CRIMINALS, not HEROES, and the prosecutor pointed out that if they were able to get away with what they did, it would put law enforcement back decades.

There are a lot of "bad" people in this world, but thankfully, we're a nation of laws, and you can't shoot someone 15 times, then lie about it, cover-up it up, obstruct justice and plant evidence, SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU KNOW HE'S A BAD PERSON!

It's that kind of "fricking" scary ass mentality that convinced Timothy McVeigh that he was justified in blowing up a Federal Building and spraying the skulls and brains of over 200 men, women and children all over the streets of an American city!

These two "heroes" were tried by a no nonsense prosecutor, indicted by a Grand Jury, and convicted by a jury of their peers. Just because we don't like the outcome, doesn't make it wrong.

If you're complaining about the sentence these two got as being too harsh, then perhaps you should join the ACLU and help them argue about "mandatory minimum sentences".

Folks on the right like to use the "tough on law and order" crap as long as it affects the poor and those of "color", but the minute someone they like (Scooter, Cunningham, Delay, and these two border agents for example) are CONVICTED OF A SERIOUS CRIME BY A JURY OF THEIR PEERS, they bitch and moan about the "harshness" of our justice system.

I'm sorry, but the "he needed killin'" defense, does not, and should never fly in this country.

[ret5hd]

11. thank you thank you thank you!

[maxrandb]

13. It's Alright

I get passionate about things, but there is nothing that torques me more than this "vigilante attitude", and my fellow Americans justifying that vigilante attitude.

If history has shown us anything, it's this: When they come to destroy democracy and freedom, they don't come after the "law-abiding, average citizen"...they come after the "low hanging fruit".

I firmly believe that our Founding Fathers intended out Constitution to protect all, not just those that we happen to like. Our laws were written to protect us all, and much as it may pain us, that includes a scum-bag drug dealer.

If these border agents are "pardoned" and what they did is excused, we've just sent the message to law enforcement that they can lie, obstruct justice, plant evidence and deliver their own brand of justice whenever they see fit. Considering who is running the Justice Department today, that ought to scare the crap out of us.

Hopefully, it won't be you or I that they deem a "bad" person in the future.

[maxrandb]

14. Oh, and to answer your question

Q: "WHERE ARE THE DEMS ON THIS"?

A: I would hope that they are where every single American should be. On the side of our Justice System, the evidence, and the 12 honorable and dedicated fellow citizens that convicted these Border Agents!.

[napi21]

17. There is more to this story than respecting a jury verdict.

The prosecutor filed special charges against these agents and the judge forbad the jury from hearing that there was a mandatory 10 year sentence associated with those charges. EVEN the prosecutor said "If this smuggler brought in another load of drugs after he was given protection from prosecution, that filing those special charges and granting the smuggler blanket immunity was a mistake in judgement!"

I'm willing to accept the jury verdict. I wan't in the court and I didn't hear all the testimony. What I completely disagree with is the "special charges". Someone at justice had a vendeta against these agents. I disagree with vendetas being carried out against ANYONE!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

19. What fresh hell is this?

What's next? An official pardon for Bryan de le Beckwith?

[FredScuttle]

24. Amen

I expect a brief to filed by Charles Manson..."The jury never got to hear about the bag of cocaine Jay Sebring brought over to Sharon Tate's house before me and my family slaughtered them like pigs..."

Kinda sucks when "mandatory minimums" bite you in the ass...

[NaturalHigh]

20. They should be released and have their records expunged.

Why does a drug dealer have more rights than two border agents who were doing their jobs? Getting shot in the ass has probably done little to deter him from breaking our laws. He's the one who should be in prison.

[High Plains]

22. They were not doing their job; they were committing crimes.

Police are not allowed to shoot fleeing suspects in this country. Sorry.

Police are not allowed to lie about shooting fleeing suspects in this country. Sorry.

By the way, the guy they shot is not a "drug dealer," but a low-level courier bringing a load of pot across the border. Of course, if we just changed our marijuana laws, there would me no market for that crappy Mexican brick weed.

[Bo]

23. uh what drug dealer does not carry a GUN on the border? a dead one?

The Drug dealer was armed....join reality.

[High Plains]

27. Was he? I haven't seen that. Please elaborate.

[FredScuttle]

25. Why stop there?

Why not be proactive and shoot all the guys who look like drug dealers near the border. Sure, the namby-pamby "civil rights and due process" crowd might shit their diapers, but at least we'll get some real poison off our streets!

in case it's needed: :sarcasm: