Former United States Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean have been re-sentenced after partially successful appeals of their convictions. Ironically both received substantially the same sentences received after being convicted two years ago in the non-fatal shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, an admitted, and now convicted, drug smuggler. Ramos will spend 11 years and 1 day in federal prison. His former partner, Compean was re-sentenced to his original 12-year sentence, 10 years on a charge of using a weapon in the commission of a felony and another two for assault and other charges. There has been a national outcry at their convictions and the harsh federal inflexibility of their sentences. Prior to their arrests and convictions, both former agents worked the dangerous and desolate Mexican drug corridor. How did these two soldiers in the battle against Mexican drug lords and illegal immigration make the journey from defending our borders to defending and subsequently losing their freedom?
Approximately 2 1/2 years ago Compean and Ramos were on patrol in the barren Texas tundra southeast of El Paso. They shot at an illegal alien as he was fleeing back to the Mexican border. Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, a Mexican national was in the process of smuggling approximately a million dollars worth of marijuana into the U.S. Testimony showed that the agents fired 15 bullets at a the unarmed Davila who was fleeing on foot toward the border. He was hit once in the buttocks and survived. Compean and Ramos were convicted by a jury of violating the civil rights of Davila when they shot him and then tampering with evidence by picking up shell casings from the shooting. The ex-agents stated that deadly force was justified because Davila had a gun. No gun was ever found. In exchange for his testimony against the former agents, Davila was granted immunity from prosecution by the U.S. government with regards to his attempt to smuggle nearly 750 pounds of marijuana into the United States on the day he was shot
There is no dispute that Davila is a drug dealing scumbag. He was later convicted of drug smuggling in an unrelated prosecution. There is no dispute that he was smuggling drugs when shot. He was offered immunity on those charges in exchange for his testimony against the agents. Should Davila’s status as a drug smuggler and illegal alien have any bearing on the propriety of the agent’s actions?
I dispute that doing a dangerous public job and even being in a position of having to make tough split second decisions with less than perfect information puts law enforcement above the laws they are sworn to uphold. They are well trained in when they can and can not use deadly force. Our body of laws puts the general population at a higher standard when dealing with law enforcement. We in return get the expectation of safe discourse of mind and body when we interact with a law enforcement officer even in the commission of a crime. Part of that is the expectation that we will not be shot at simply because we flee, unarmed in fear of apprehension in committing a non-violent offense. This is not about drug smuggling, illegal immigration, or the patriotism of these agents. It is about their attempt to seriously injure/kill a person who did not present a deadly threat. Even more importantly, apart from any sympathy we have for two men doing a dangerous thankless job, it is about the attempt to cover-up their actions. Should these officers be pardoned by the outgoing President Bush or the incoming President Elect Obama? Nearly 400,000 people have signed a petition demanding a presidential pardon for the agents. There are several bills to pardon them pending in Congress. One lawmaker stated:
“The federal government was on the wrong side in this case. This drug dealer was not just bringing in a little bit of marijuana,” Poe said. “Our federal government goes to Mexico, finds this drug dealer, gives him immunity … they’re [Ramos and Compean] being punished basically, for doing what they’re supposed to do.”
I do not believe they should be pardoned. They lied to federal investigators. No free-passes for law enforcement cover-ups. End of story. This is worse than the crime itself. It impugns all of law enforcement and the justice system. Nothing that is said can ever be trusted. To pardon them would send the message that our law enforcement officers have carte-blanche to lie, cheat and steal to achieve a desired judicial result.
Should their sentences be commuted? The proper thing to do would be for either President Bush or President-elect Obama(when he gets in office) to communte the sentences to what they would get for the cover-up of the offense, and a concurrent time served sentence for the other convictions. That would leave them as convicted felons no longer able to hold any type of law enforcement positions. The cover-up mandates that they never again be allowed to wear a badge in furtherance of the public trust. That is the price of the high standard to which we hold those who wear badges and carry guns to protect us. There is a price for mistakes in the face of accountability , it sucks but unless you are two years old, it is the world we live in.