Bush commutes that sentences of those 2 border agents that shot the drug smuggler in the ass.

[Liberal_in_LA]

Rightwing radio has been championing their release for a long time.

Bush Commutes Agents’ Sentences
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/washington/20sentence.html?hp

By DAVID STOUT
Published: January 19, 2009

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday commuted the sentences of two former border patrol agents who had been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for shooting and seriously wounding a Mexican drug dealer in Texas in 2005.

With a day left in his presidency, Mr. Bush exercised his constitutional power to grant clemency — for the last time, according to a senior White House official — in a case that has touched off fierce debate in the Southwest. 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.”

The incident touched off heated debate about law enforcement and illegal immigration. A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in 2007 brought out the fact that Mr. Aldrete-Davila had crossed the United States-Mexican border illegally and driving a van containing 743 pounds of marijuana worth almost $1 million.

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Excellent news.

[no limit]

2. Really? So I guess it's okay for agents to shoot mexicans in the ass and then try to cover it up?

good news indeed :eyes:

[RB TexLa]

3. Just wait, there are quite a few today that will tell you that is all someone deserves for trying to

murder someone and trying to cover it up.

[dysfunctional press]

4. this is the part i found to be excellent news:

"Mr. Bush exercised his constitutional power to grant clemency — for the last time, according to a senior White House official..."

it'll be nice to think about george ryan crying himself to sleep tonite... :rofl:

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Really

I am proud to say that once again I strongly disagree with a cause championed by right wingers.

[Hepburn]

5. So it is OK for a law enforcement officer to shoot bad men in the back?

I say, "Bullshit."

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. According to rightwing radio it's perfectly acceptable for law enforcement to shoot (non white) bad

men in the back. Now if they start shooting bad white men in the back, opinions may change.

[Hepburn]

22. Thank you for the explanation....

....I was quite sure there was some RW rule of which I had not been informed that allowed for Law Enforcement to shoot unarmed people in the back.

:hi:

[Xicano]

19. Why excellent news?

Is there a different set of laws for drug smugglers vs police vs regular folks? Isn't shooting somebody considered use of deadly force? Wouldn't being shot in the ass constitute someone having their back turned toward the shooter? Does running away or having your back turned toward someone constitute danger enough to justify using deadly force against them?

:shrug:

[Zookeeper]

6. Without commenting on the actions of agents Ramos and ....

Compean, I will speak only as a parent of three teens, two of whom have put our family through hell with substance abuse issues during the last two years: I have zero sympathy or tolerance for drug smugglers or dealers.

[MajorChode]

11. Nobody says you should...

but neither should it cloud the judgment of what constitutes a bad cop, and bad cops deserve no sympathy or tolerance either.

[no limit]

12. But what's your point?

You excusing shooting an unarmed drug dealer in the back and then trying to cover it up?

I'm sorry about your 2 teens, drugs are a terrible thing to plague a family. But it is something that happens to many (if not most) families, it has nothing to do with what we are talking about.

[Zookeeper]

17. I think the agents should have handled the situation differently...

but, I just can't stomach making a martyr out of a drug smuggler, regardless of national origin.

[no limit]

18. Nobody is making a martyr out of him.

It's a matter of basic human rights. Plus he was smuggling marijuana, if marijuana were legal in the first place we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[Zookeeper]

21. Oh please. If marijuana users stopped supporting the drug...

trade, we wouldn't be having this discussion. (And a lot of innocent lives lost to drug trafficking violence on both sides of the border would have been spared.) If one wants marijuana legalized, then work toward it, but don't keep buying and whining about the consequences. (That said, flame on folks, but I've done enough pointless arguing with potheads, alcoholics, etc., that I'm finished.)

To answer your other point, I do believe there have been attempts to portray the drug smuggler as a martyr. And if I remember correctly, the smuggler and his attorney played up that idea and showed zero remorse.

[no limit]

23. Easy to say stop buying the shit

problem is like any other drug marijuana is addictive (I don't care if anyone says otherwise, Im not getting in to that debate now), so you don't just stop buying it.

"Dome arguing with potheads, alcoholics"? Who exactly are you talking about, me?

Do you have any examples of anyone trying to potray the drug smuggler as a martyr? I certainly haven't seen it. There might be some extremely rare exceptions, if you are shocked by those rare exceptions you must be new to the internet, welcome to the tubes :hi:. ;)

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. So that excuses shooting drug dealers in the back?

We have had to deal with drug abuse in my family too but I am not using that as an excuse to promote cops shooting ANYONE in the back and then covering up the evidence.

[MajorChode]

7. Saying those two agents deserved clemency is like saying...

It's OK for cops to shoot an unarmed drug dealer and then plant a weapon on him.

Cops aren't judge, jury, and executioners. It is their job to enforce laws and to apprehend suspected criminals. Not to shoot people in the back because they are too lazy to chase them down. Those two deserved to spend every single minute in jail in which they were sentenced.

[PuppyBismark]

They did NOT get pardon, just sentence reduction - Still Guilty! n/t

[MajorChode]

13. The same goes for Scooter Libby...

but the question remains, was justice served?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. No restoration of rights either

[ColbertWatcher]

9. And like the true coward that he is, Dumbya does it on his way out.

Way to show leadership, Dumbass.

[flvegan]

10. I knew that this one was coming.

[11 Bravo]

20. I called it right here earlier this morning.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8106532&mesg_id=8106748