January 19, 2009
Bush Commutes Sentences of Ramos and Campean
As one of his last acts of clemency, President Bush has commuted the sentences of Ramos and Campean. From FOX News:
On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005.
The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the two were just doing their jobs. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively.
Their prison sentences will now expire on March 20 of this year.
A commutation is good; a full pardon would have been even better. I suppose we need to take what we can get. I'm sure their families are thankful they'll be coming home soon.
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Pardon? They were lucky to get commutation!
The two former agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, had attracted considerable support among advocates of tougher border security, who argued that the agents were just doing their jobs.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” the lead prosecutor in the case said in 2007, scoffing at the idea that the defendants were defending themselves. The agents said at trial that they had scuffled with the dealer, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila.
“These agents shot someone whom they knew to be unarmed and running away,” said the prosecutor, United States Attorney Johnny Sutton. “They destroyed evidence, covered up a crime scene and then filed false reports about what happened. It is shocking that there are people who believe it is O.K. for agents to shoot an unarmed suspect who is running away.”
I am a die hard Republican and Sutton is too, but what these officers did after the fact is incredible. President Bush knew this also.
Posted by: Brad Thousand at January 19, 2009 05:17 PMIs he gonna pardon Dick Cheney next?
Posted by: El Ness at January 20, 2009 09:21 AM
