The Sad Ballad of Compean and Ramos

I want to introduce you to two American political prisoners. Meet US Border Control Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos. Here’s their sad story. These two agents spotted an illegal alien drug smuggler, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, driving a van that was loaded with 743 lbs of marijuana, on American soil. A high speed pursuit continued for a period of time and when Davila stopped, he got out of the van and ran for the Mexican border, stopping briefly to pivot and raise his arm toward the agents. Agent Compean claims that Davila pointed a shiny object - what appeared to be a gun toward him.
Compean opened fire and Ramos, seeing that a fellow agent was exchanging gunfire with a suspect, opened fire as well. After the agents fired, Davila, apparently unhurt, turned and ran back across the Mexican border and escaped in an awaiting van.
The suspect was shot in the buttocks but was treated in Mexico and has no lingering problems from the shooting. The lasting damage is to the two agents. Two weeks later, Johnny Sutton, the U.S. Attorney for that part of Texas, ordered a full-scale investigation of the two agents Compean and Ramos.
You know you’re dealing with a political arrest when you send in two SWAT teams from The Department of Homeland Security to stage a lights and cameras arrest at each house. These are two fellow Law enforcement agents! You could send them an email to appear at the federal court the next day with a near 100% certainty they would show up. Why send SWAT teams?
To top it off, Sutton's office gave the drug smuggler immunity in order to prosecute the two agents. Ramos and Compean were given terms of 11 and 12 years respectively on their convictions for shooting an illegal alien drug smuggler.
A major argument used by the prosecution during the trial was that our government has a policy forbidding agents from chasing suspected drug smugglers without first getting permission from supervisors. Sounds like the Drug Smugglers wrote the Government Policy Manuals; as such a policy is in effect a no arrest policy. The departmental procedures say when Davila started to run for the Mexican border, Compean and Ramos should have stopped and radioed a superior and asked for permission to pursue him.
Some of the jurors believed Ramos and Compean were not guilty and after the trial, two jurors gave sworn statements that they had been pressured to render a guilty verdict. They did not understand that a hung jury was possible. They later confided to the defense lawyer that the jury foreman told them the judge had said all jurors had to agree on the verdict, that it had to be unanimous. Believing those instructions, at least three jurors changed their vote from not guilty to guilty.
The agents were serving their nation in a war zone along our southern border. The fact is Mexico remains the primary corridor for drugs entering the United States. Mexico is the principal source of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines into this country. Mexican traffickers continue to dominate drug distribution in the United States, controlling most of the primary distribution centers. We should be giving these guys a medal for staring down the ultra violent drug cartels, but instead we imprison them for doing job and protecting our country.
This grandstanding US Attorney Sutton then ordered that the drug smuggler be given a special VISA which allowed him access to come and go across the border. He was later arrested again by other Border Patrol Agents with another truckload of marijuana.
US Attorney Sutton gave amnesty to a drug smuggler but relentlessly pursued Compean and Ramos. He charged them with Causing Serious Bodily Harm, Assault with a Deadly Weapon, Discharge of a Firearm in Relation to a Crime of Violence, and violation of the illegal dope dealer's civil rights. Conviction on the firearms charge carries a mandatory ten-year sentence but no one ever thought it would be used against a law enforcement officer who was engaged in the commission of their duty. Can you say persecution rather than prosecution?
What can we do? As this is the Presidential Pardon Season we can personally plea with President Bush to pardon these two men. They do not deserve to be in Federal Prison or have their lifestyle wrecked. The message to criminals is clear: you will be treated with respect and free legal advice. The message to Law enforcement professionals is equally clear. You will be prosecuted ruthlessly if you don’t follow the 440 page procedure manual flawlessly. It’s Law enforcement that keeps us safe, not the US Attorney’s office. The message we need to send to Washington NOW is pardon Ramos and Compean immediately.