From a Los Angeles CBS affiliate.
Jose Alonso Compean, 30, and Ignacio Ramos, 35, both of El Paso, Texas, were convicted with assault with a deadly weapon and other counts in the shooting of Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila.
Aldrete-Davila was allegedly trying to smuggle about 750 pounds of marijuana across the border in a van on Feb. 17, 2005 when he was spotted by one of the agents. As he ran back across the border, he was shot in the buttocks.
No weapon was found at the scene and Aldrete-Davila was not caught at the time. The government granted the suspected drug smuggler immunity to testify against the two agents.
Ramos is serving an 11-year sentence in a federal prison in Florida, where Hernandez said he was recently assaulted by at least four individuals. The assault renewed calls for a pardon. Compean was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
Simply put, justice was not served in this case.
Should the Homeland Security/INS agents shot the suspect in this case? I think it's debatable. They should not have attempted to cover up the events around the case though, as has been reported.
The perp in this case is suing the US Government for $5 million? Meanwhile, the officers in this case stand to serve at least a decade in prison? For shooting an illegal immigrant in the buttocks who was smuggling 750 pounds of pot across the border?
That is insane!
It gets better. Seems like some of those involved in the investigation have ties to the pot smuggler.
Some conservatives have even used the dreaded "I" word in conjunction with President Bush, to describe their abhorrence to what has happened.
Yes, Republicans have started impeachment talk!
Bush faces increasing demands from House Republicans and others that he pardon Ramos and Compean, who were sentenced in October to 11 and 12 years, respectively, after being convicted of violating the trafficker's civil rights and tampering with evidence for picking up their shell casings and not reporting the shooting.
"The president has lost my respect because he will not step forward and do what's right," said Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., went a step further, saying Bush would face dire consequences if Compean or Ramos is killed while in prison. If that happens, he said, "There's going to be some kind of impeachment talk on Capitol Hill."
Last month, Bush said in response to passions about the case and the pardon request that he would take a hard look at the case.
Wow! Unbelievable.
Again, I do not condone any sort of cover-up. While the agents supposedly removed some evidence from the scene, it would appear as though some higher up in the INS or Homeland Security have something at stake here. Reports also have come out stating that one of the former officers has been attacked in prison.
So, they put officers who shot a drug running and illegal immigrant in the buttocks, and they get more than a decade in prison, in general population, where when it's uncovered that they are former border agents, their lives will be in even greater peril?
It's not a liberal thought nor a conservative thought that something is seriously wrong here. It's neither a Democrat nor a Republican thought that this is wrong.
In the Army, we had a saying when it came to the ridiculous Rules of Engagement we had to abide by at times.
"It's better to be carried by 6 than tried by 12".
We knew that justice in the military is flawed. No one can understand what happens "downrange" as many put it.
At the most, these officers should be fired, at the most. To serve a decade or more in prison for these offenses is ridiculous.
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