Border Agents Revisited: Were Wrongfully Convicted Border Agents Set Up?
Bill Haymin
December 30, 2006
By Jeff Mazzella, President of CFIF
While families all over America were celebrating the Christmas holiday, two American families were preparing to say goodbye to their husbands and fathers.
In the rush to buy presents and trim the tree, you may have forgotten Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean -- at least it would seem that our government has forgotten about them -- or WANTS to forget about them.
Compean and Ramos are the two U.S. Border Agents wrongfully convicted and recently sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for attempting to arrest Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, an illegal alien who was smuggling drugs from Mexico into the U.S.
The Agents spotted Davila driving a van, loaded down with 743 lbs of marijuana, already on American soil.
When Davila realized he was about to be captured, Davila abandoned the van and took off running toward the Mexican border. Ramos, a federal officer, tried to block his way. Davila knocked him down.
Compean, after seeing his partner on the ground, and seeing what he thought at that instant was Davila brandishing a nickel-plated pistol, opened fire. Davila turned and ran back across the Mexican border and escaped in another van -- apparently unhurt.
Some two weeks later, Johnny Sutton, the U.S. Attorney for that part of Texas, claimed that Davila's mother called the mother-in-law of a Border Agent in Arizona and told him that Davila had been shot in his illegal, dope-dealing rear by a Border Agent.
And Sutton -- apparently outraged that two law enforcement agents would actually try to enforce the law... apparently outraged that a dope dealing piece of scum was shot in the buttocks -- ordered a full-scale, no stone un-turned, investigation of COMPEAN AND RAMOS!
And here's the kicker! Instead of calling the two agents into headquarters, the Department of Homeland Security sent two SWAT teams to stage a high-profile arrest at each house, during which they bullied the two men and their stunned and terrified families.
What was DHS thinking... that Compean and Ramos would try to flee across the border?
The flamboyant arrest -- unjustified and unprecedented -- was the tip-off:
This case was to become a carefully staged drama intended to do two things:
warn all other Border Agents to lay off illegal aliens and smugglers, and send a welcome message to the government of Mexico: "Don't worry... the border will stay open to illegal crossings and nobody will ever again try to enforce our laws --not after they watch us clobber Ramos and Compean."
Was this conviction a simple miscarriage of justice... a glitch in the system? Or were Compean and Ramos set-up?
You can be the judge of that; but consider what went on following the indictment.
First, U.S. Attorney Sutton gave full immunity to the illegal dope dealer, so he could testify against two loyal public servants doing their job.
Sutton also transferred Davilla to a U.S. hospital, where he received a fortune in medical treatment courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
But wait until you hear this: After this VIP treatment, DAVILLA WAS AGAIN CAUGHT SMUGGLING DRUGS ACROSS THE BORDER! And Sutton gave him immunity from prosecution from those crimes as well.
The message such an action sends is clear. If you want to come into the United States illegally to sell dope to our children, just testify against U.S. law enforcement officials who, in the words of Congressman Tom Tancredo, were "Doing their jobs!"
As for the charges, Sutton threw the book at Ramos and Compean, charging 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.
All four of these charges are really one charge, the same charge: shooting Davilla in his sorry rear end. You can tell from this piling on of charges that Johnny Sutton was out to prove a point.
This is persecution rather than prosecution.
You have to ask yourself, "What's going on here? Who's pulling the strings?"
To destroy the lives of two loyal, public servants to placate a foreign nation is
beneath contempt. President Bush MUST pardon these men immediately.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanov, who actually prosecuted the case, pulled out all the stops, telling the jury that Ramos and Compean had violated Davila's civil rights by shooting him.
But under U.S. law, an illegal alien who is in this country to commit a felony, has no constitutional rights.
Kanov also said that shooting Davilla violated the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. But wait a minute! That Amendment prohibits "unreasonable search and seizure" and reads -- "no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause..."
Since when did shooting drug dealers in the butt constitute unreasonable search and seizure?
In perhaps the most revealing statement of all, Kanov said, "It is a violation of Border Patrol regulations to go after someone who is fleeing.
Is it, now?
Did Kanov say something that was untrue? Or did she reveal something deeply disturbing about our government?
Are the regulations actually set up to tie the hands of border agents? Is that why Administration officials lost their minds when Minutemen volunteers started paroling the border?
It sure looks that way, doesn't it?
And is that why Ramos and Compean have been so brutalized by the legal system? Because they violated the unwritten rules by attempting to stop illegal aliens and dope dealers from invading the U.S.?
If so, then we have corruption at the highest levels of government.
Also, there are legitimate contentions that somebody leaned on the jury.
We now know that three of the twelve jurors believed Ramos and Compean were NOT guilty.
The other nine believed the government would not have charged them if they hadn't been guilty.
Suspicious, Ramos's lawyer talked to the three jurors -- Gourley, Torres and Woods -- who now claim they were tricked into voting for conviction.
They 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 they were compelled by law to vote with the majority, the three changed their vote! Two were in tears as the verdict was read.
Turns out the judge had said no such thing. If these three are to be believed, what the foreman said was untrue.
And that's not all that was fishy. When the verdict was announced, U.S. Attorney Sutton said in part:
"...when law-enforcement officers use their badge as a shield for carrying out crimes and then engage in a coverup, we cannot look the other way. Agents Compean and Ramos shot an unarmed, fleeing suspect in the back and lied about it."
However, when a rumor spread that Compean and Ramos might get probation, Sutton issued a three-page statement to the media in which he said:
"[The two agents] fired their weapons at a man who was attempting to surrender by holding his open hands in the air."
Was he fleeing or was he attempting to surrender? In the Justice Department these days, you can apparently have it both ways.
Debra Kanov obviously got her orders from Johnny Sutton: "Whatever you have to do, get these convictions," or words to that effect.
But from whom did Johnny Sutton get his orders?
During this holiday season, let's think about the Ramos and Compean families and what they are facing.
Ramos has three sons, ages 6, 9, and 13.
Compean also has three children, the youngest only a month old. His wife is in a wheel chair.
The more than decade-long sentences that each got was for the mere firing of their guns, with one and two years tacked on. No time off for good behavior on the ten years. Neither man will be out before his older children have grown up.
Ten lives ruined because somebody wants to globalize North America.
In a quiet moment during this joyous season... please think of these poor people. Pray if you are so inclined.
But most importantly, DO SOMETHING TO REVERSE THIS GROSS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE!
Use the hyperlink below to send you urgent and personalized Blast Fax messages to President Bush and the leaders in the House and Senate. Tell them that the arrest, conviction, and sentencing of two men defending our nation's borders is a gross miscarriage of justice and perhaps one of the most cynical misuses of power in our nation's recent history.
To destroy the lives of two loyal, public servants to placate a foreign nation is beneath contempt. President Bush MUST pardon these men immediately.
http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/compeaniii.html
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If the above hyperlink does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser.
Yours In Freedom,
Jeff Mazzella
President
www.cfif.org
The CFIF Action Alert is a service to the conservative community. If you would like to subscribe please go to www.cfif.org/signup.
By Bill Haymin, 2006
While families all over America were celebrating the Christmas holiday, two American families were preparing to say goodbye to their husbands and fathers.
In the rush to buy presents and trim the tree, you may have forgotten Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean -- at least it would seem that our government has forgotten about them -- or WANTS to forget about them.
Compean and Ramos are the two U.S. Border Agents wrongfully convicted and recently sentenced to a combined 23 years in prison for attempting to arrest Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, an illegal alien who was smuggling drugs from Mexico into the U.S.
The Agents spotted Davila driving a van, loaded down with 743 lbs of marijuana, already on American soil.
When Davila realized he was about to be captured, Davila abandoned the van and took off running toward the Mexican border. Ramos, a federal officer, tried to block his way. Davila knocked him down.
Compean, after seeing his partner on the ground, and seeing what he thought at that instant was Davila brandishing a nickel-plated pistol, opened fire. Davila turned and ran back across the Mexican border and escaped in another van -- apparently unhurt.
Some two weeks later, Johnny Sutton, the U.S. Attorney for that part of Texas, claimed that Davila's mother called the mother-in-law of a Border Agent in Arizona and told him that Davila had been shot in his illegal, dope-dealing rear by a Border Agent.
And Sutton -- apparently outraged that two law enforcement agents would actually try to enforce the law... apparently outraged that a dope dealing piece of scum was shot in the buttocks -- ordered a full-scale, no stone un-turned, investigation of COMPEAN AND RAMOS!
And here's the kicker! Instead of calling the two agents into headquarters, the Department of Homeland Security sent two SWAT teams to stage a high-profile arrest at each house, during which they bullied the two men and their stunned and terrified families.
What was DHS thinking... that Compean and Ramos would try to flee across the border?
The flamboyant arrest -- unjustified and unprecedented -- was the tip-off:
This case was to become a carefully staged drama intended to do two things:
warn all other Border Agents to lay off illegal aliens and smugglers, and send a welcome message to the government of Mexico: "Don't worry... the border will stay open to illegal crossings and nobody will ever again try to enforce our laws --not after they watch us clobber Ramos and Compean."
Was this conviction a simple miscarriage of justice... a glitch in the system? Or were Compean and Ramos set-up?
You can be the judge of that; but consider what went on following the indictment.
First, U.S. Attorney Sutton gave full immunity to the illegal dope dealer, so he could testify against two loyal public servants doing their job.
Sutton also transferred Davilla to a U.S. hospital, where he received a fortune in medical treatment courtesy of U.S. taxpayers.
But wait until you hear this: After this VIP treatment, DAVILLA WAS AGAIN CAUGHT SMUGGLING DRUGS ACROSS THE BORDER! And Sutton gave him immunity from prosecution from those crimes as well.
The message such an action sends is clear. If you want to come into the United States illegally to sell dope to our children, just testify against U.S. law enforcement officials who, in the words of Congressman Tom Tancredo, were "Doing their jobs!"
As for the charges, Sutton threw the book at Ramos and Compean, charging 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.
All four of these charges are really one charge, the same charge: shooting Davilla in his sorry rear end. You can tell from this piling on of charges that Johnny Sutton was out to prove a point.
This is persecution rather than prosecution.
You have to ask yourself, "What's going on here? Who's pulling the strings?"
To destroy the lives of two loyal, public servants to placate a foreign nation is
beneath contempt. President Bush MUST pardon these men immediately.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Debra Kanov, who actually prosecuted the case, pulled out all the stops, telling the jury that Ramos and Compean had violated Davila's civil rights by shooting him.
But under U.S. law, an illegal alien who is in this country to commit a felony, has no constitutional rights.
Kanov also said that shooting Davilla violated the 4th Amendment to the Constitution. But wait a minute! That Amendment prohibits "unreasonable search and seizure" and reads -- "no warrants shall issue but upon probable cause..."
Since when did shooting drug dealers in the butt constitute unreasonable search and seizure?
In perhaps the most revealing statement of all, Kanov said, "It is a violation of Border Patrol regulations to go after someone who is fleeing.
Is it, now?
Did Kanov say something that was untrue? Or did she reveal something deeply disturbing about our government?
Are the regulations actually set up to tie the hands of border agents? Is that why Administration officials lost their minds when Minutemen volunteers started paroling the border?
It sure looks that way, doesn't it?
And is that why Ramos and Compean have been so brutalized by the legal system? Because they violated the unwritten rules by attempting to stop illegal aliens and dope dealers from invading the U.S.?
If so, then we have corruption at the highest levels of government.
Also, there are legitimate contentions that somebody leaned on the jury.
We now know that three of the twelve jurors believed Ramos and Compean were NOT guilty.
The other nine believed the government would not have charged them if they hadn't been guilty.
Suspicious, Ramos's lawyer talked to the three jurors -- Gourley, Torres and Woods -- who now claim they were tricked into voting for conviction.
They 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 they were compelled by law to vote with the majority, the three changed their vote! Two were in tears as the verdict was read.
Turns out the judge had said no such thing. If these three are to be believed, what the foreman said was untrue.
And that's not all that was fishy. When the verdict was announced, U.S. Attorney Sutton said in part:
"...when law-enforcement officers use their badge as a shield for carrying out crimes and then engage in a coverup, we cannot look the other way. Agents Compean and Ramos shot an unarmed, fleeing suspect in the back and lied about it."
However, when a rumor spread that Compean and Ramos might get probation, Sutton issued a three-page statement to the media in which he said:
"[The two agents] fired their weapons at a man who was attempting to surrender by holding his open hands in the air."
Was he fleeing or was he attempting to surrender? In the Justice Department these days, you can apparently have it both ways.
Debra Kanov obviously got her orders from Johnny Sutton: "Whatever you have to do, get these convictions," or words to that effect.
But from whom did Johnny Sutton get his orders?
During this holiday season, let's think about the Ramos and Compean families and what they are facing.
Ramos has three sons, ages 6, 9, and 13.
Compean also has three children, the youngest only a month old. His wife is in a wheel chair.
The more than decade-long sentences that each got was for the mere firing of their guns, with one and two years tacked on. No time off for good behavior on the ten years. Neither man will be out before his older children have grown up.
Ten lives ruined because somebody wants to globalize North America.
In a quiet moment during this joyous season... please think of these poor people. Pray if you are so inclined.
But most importantly, DO SOMETHING TO REVERSE THIS GROSS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE!
Use the hyperlink below to send you urgent and personalized Blast Fax messages to President Bush and the leaders in the House and Senate. Tell them that the arrest, conviction, and sentencing of two men defending our nation's borders is a gross miscarriage of justice and perhaps one of the most cynical misuses of power in our nation's recent history.
To destroy the lives of two loyal, public servants to placate a foreign nation is beneath contempt. President Bush MUST pardon these men immediately.
http://www.cfiflistmanager.org/compeaniii.html
AOL Members Use This Hyperlink
If the above hyperlink does not function, please copy and paste it into the address bar of your browser.
Yours In Freedom,
Jeff Mazzella
President
www.cfif.org
The CFIF Action Alert is a service to the conservative community. If you would like to subscribe please go to www.cfif.org/signup.
By Bill Haymin, 2006
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