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November 21, 2008
Members of Congress push for commutation of Border Agent sentences
This AP article details the latest effort to encourage President Bush to use his clemency power to do some sentencing justice for two notable federal defendants. Here are the specifics:
A handful of lawmakers want President George W. Bush to commute the sentences of two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a now-convicted drug smuggler and covering it up. The House members said Thursday that Bush should commute the sentence of the two men before he leaves office to show his concern for law enforcement officers and the danger of their jobs. They asked the Justice Department to recommend the agents' cases to Bush....
The lawmakers pushing for the pardon attorney to at least commute the sentence of the Border Patrol agents or possibly pardon them say his action on their plea will be a barometer for other pardons. Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean were sentenced to 11 years and 12 years, respectively, after being convicted in 2006 of shooting now-convicted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila of Mexico and trying to cover up the incident.... "If you can't do it for Ramos and Compean, how can you do it for anyone on that list?" said Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa....
Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, said lawmakers will pressure President-elect Barack Obama to show leniency to the agents if Bush does not. Other lawmakers who had signed a letter to the Justice Department's pardon attorney by Thursday morning are Rep. William Delahunt, D-Mass. and Republican Reps. Ted Poe of Texas, Dana Rohrabacher, Howard McKeon and Ed Royce of California and Walter Jones and Sue Myrick of North Carolina.
Some prior posts about the Border Agents case:
November 21, 2008 at 08:08 AM | Permalink
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Comments
"If you can't do it for Ramos and Compean, how can you do it for anyone on that list?"
Answer: because these guys shot someone in the back and then tried to cover it up and lie about it. And they were the people we expected to uphold the law...not break it and lie about it.
"show his concern for law enforcement officers and the danger of their jobs"
I didn't know that shooting at a person’s back and covering it up was very dangerous.
These people are our law enforcement officers. We should be holding them to a higher standard, not giving them a break. A jury found that these officers broke the law. If these lawmakers are that upset, then revise the mandatory minimum laws. Don't make an exception due to some half-baked plea that we should be concerned for these people who blatantly abused their position of authority. I feel no sympathy for these authority-abusers.
Posted by: unbelievable | Nov 21, 2008 11:31:21 AM
