Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, two former US Border Patrol agents previously convicted on a number of charges stemming from the shooting of an alleged drug smuggler in the course of their jobs, have had their sentences commuted in a last act of clemency by outgoing President George W. Bush. Originally sentenced to eleven and twelve years respectively, both men's sentences are now set to be served in full by March 20th of this year.
They probably never should have been charged to begin with, but the one thing that may have hurt them the most in the minds of federal prosecutors-a tempering with evidence charge-was probably the precursor to the accompanying charges. Ironically, that was the only charged overturned on appeal. The two guards had allegedly removed shell casings from the scene of the incident.
In the meantime, the smuggler in question was found not to have been armed, contrary to the agent's claims, and a van in the area, which apparently contained significant amounts of marijuana, was never proven to have belonged to the immigrant, who was shot by one of the men in the ass while attempting to flee. He was later granted the right to sue the federal government. He was later apprehended smuggling marijuana across the border.
I always wondered why Bush never pardoned the men, which, assuming the accounts I have heard are correct, he should have-and should yet. A commutation is not quite the same. They will probably never be able to regain their former jobs. Of course, that might be just as well with them, but they could also recover damages. By limiting his actions on their behalf to a commutation of their sentences, as opposed to overturning them entirely, Bush has offered a degree of protection to the federal government they probably do not deserve.
But at least after a relatively short time, they will be free men, albeit with a probably undeserved record.
2 comments:
"I always wondered why Bush never pardoned the men, which, assuming the accounts I have heard are correct, he should have-and should yet."
The prosecutor was an old friend of his. Bush sees the highest virtue to be loyalty and so he was reluctant to issue what could be seen as a rebuke to his friend.
That and the fact that the incident occurred during the President's big push to get an open borders bill through congress.
Oh, okay, I guess that does explain it. Actually, it seems like I remember reading that somewhere, must have just forgotten it. I don't know about the open borders part though. If anything, you would think that he would have pardoned them just to keep it from being that much more of a controversial issue. But, like one guy in I think the same article I linked to said, Bush is a stubborn man.
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