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Border Agents Get 11 & 12 years for Shooting Pot Smuggler

By Jeralyn, Section Crime in the News
Posted on Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 01:46:00 AM EST
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Last year while patrolling the border, two border agents, Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, stopped a van carrying 743 pounds of pot. The driver, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, fled across the border and both agents fired. One of the bullets hit Aldrete-Davila in the behind.

Federal prosecutors convinced a jury in March that the agents had shot a defenseless man and schemed to cover it up. Much of the evidence against them came from the drug runner, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, who reported the shooting to a friend at the Border Patrol in Arizona. Aldrete-Davila was given immunity from prosecution by the U.S. attorney's office.

Yesterday, the agents were were sentenced to federal prison terms of 11 years and 12 years.

The Minutemen decried the sentence. Why?

The case has become a cause celebre among activists against illegal immigration and advocates of stronger border security, who say it epitomizes misplaced priorities of federal prosecutors as well as the predicament of Border Patrol agents, who must fight heavily armed criminals with little or no force.

I side with the man who was shot:

Walter Boyaki, an attorney representing the smuggler, commended federal prosecutors for having the courage to carry on with a politically unpopular case, and argued that if the agents had not been punished, it would have "put a bull's-eye on every illegal alien."

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    Border Agents Get 11 & 12 years for Shooting Pot Smuggler | 9 comments (9 topical)
    Border Agents Get 11 & 12 years (none / 0) (#1)
    by pax on Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 01:59:09 AM EST
    As a retired Immigration Officer (not Border Patrol), supervisor and manager, I have some serious problems with this case.  The agents were in the wrong.  They violated policy by chasing the guy, they shot a guy running away from them, they failed to report the incident, and then they lied about it.  Cause for disciplinary action? You bectcha.  Even though I've been retired for 11 years I could probably write up the disciplinary action papers in my sleep.  They probably should have had at least 90 days on the street without pay, maybe even 120.  

    The druggie had over 700 pounds of marijuana and was granted immunity.  I've had the privilege of meeting drug runners.  They aren't what you would normally call upstanding citizens in the community.  That doesn't mean they deserve to be shot in the rear end, but granting immunity?  Sounds to me like a US Atty trying to make a name for him/herself.  Since they are political appointees, they do that from time to time.  

    I have a hard time buying what they did, and what the US Atty did, equal an appropriate solution to the case.  I mean really, 11 and 12 years respectively?  Seems excessive.

    Re: Border Agents Get 11 &amp; 12 years (none / 0) (#5)
    by Jim Strain on Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 11:51:35 AM EST
    Please let's not dismiss this as someone being "shot in the rear end."  Everyone knows that peace officers are trained to shoot to kill -- at least that's been the justification when cops shoot a psychotic teenager whose threat to them was nonexistent or minimal.  If they shot the guy in the butt, it just means they missed.  This was an attempted execution, and the falsification of their report and outright lying about it is consciousness of guilt.  The left is always being criticized as "soft on crime," but it's the right that is willing to put killers back on the street after a disciplinary suspension.
    . . . jim strain in san diego.

    [ Parent ]
    Re: Border Agents Get 11 & 12 years (none / 0) (#2)
    by scribe on Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 06:25:34 AM EST
    I suspect these two officers were probably of the variety where they were known to their bosses for being "Bad actors" or troublesome managment problems, and their bosses were just waiting, in the knowledge that someday these two would screw up.  

    I think both the sentences and the prosecution itself were appropriate.  In the first instance, as the main post makes clear, not prosecuting these two would have put a bullseye on every border crosser and given a clear sign to the Minutemen that shooting such was OK.  Second, if the purpose of the drug war is to get drugs off the street, there's 743 pounds of pot no longer out there being smoked.  Third, why is it that cops always moan and whine when a snitch gets immunity to testify against them, but they always hold up as paragons of virtue, goodness and light those who snitch to help them build their cases?  Hypocrisy, much?  

    And, as to the allegedly severe sentence, I think these cops got off lightly.  Since these were firearms-related offenses, and since there were drugs involved (even if tangentially), I suspect they could have easily been charged with enough crimes bearing mandatory minimums that they could have been guests of the government for 100 or so years.  Remember, there was that guy in Utah who got 58 years for selling two or three joints while having a gun in the car, and his sentence was upheld on appeal, even though Judge Cassell thought the mandatory minimums required by statute were unconstitutionally severe.  These cops got friendly charges, and probably a generous interpretation of the sentencing guidelines.

    Re Scribe (none / 0) (#3)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 09:22:01 AM EST
    Scribe - From the post:

    Much of the evidence against them came from the drug runner,

    I thought you didn't like snitches and feds who cut deals?

    Oh. You only like snitches that cut deals against the police?

    Now, I don't really believe that, but tell me what message this sends to smugglers and illegal aliens?

    Or do you just believe in open borders and let's give the southwest back to Mexico??

    Re: Border Agents Get 11 & 12 years (none / 0) (#4)
    by Sailor on Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 10:44:34 AM EST
    from the article which ppj is too lazy to read: "The agents' description about what had occurred was contradicted by other agents who arrived on the scene. One testified that Compean had admitted to picking up shotgun casings to cover up the fact that he fired at the smuggler.

    The sentence is the fault of folks who are fond of draconian  'tough on crime' laws which made mandatory 10 yrs for committing a felony with a gun. FTA: "One of the charges against both agents, using a firearm in the commission of a felony, carried a mandatory 10-year term. "

    They tried to beat the guy, they shot him when he ran away and they lied about it.


    Re: Border Agents Get (none / 0) (#6)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Oct 21, 2006 at 12:23:20 PM EST
    Sailor - Speaking of not reading, you may go to the head of that line. Of course you have been there many times. From the post:

    Much of the evidence against them came from the drug runner, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila,, who reported the shooting to a friend at the Border Patrol in Arizona. Aldrete-Davila was given immunity from prosecution by the U.S. attorney's office.

    Sailor, why do make such useless easily refutable attacks?

    Re: Border Agents (none / 0) (#7)
    by kdog on Mon Oct 23, 2006 at 11:40:40 AM EST
    I've had the privilege of meeting drug runners

    And I've had the priveledge of buying their crop in the black market...and am grateful someone is willing to bring the crop to the market in spite of the govt. prohibition.

    I'm glad he got off and I'm glad he got some justice for being shot in the back while bring the crop to market.

    RE: Border Agents (none / 0) (#8)
    by bigboss on Sun Feb 11, 2007 at 10:21:20 PM EST
    Homeland Security Officals Lied,
    The DEA Lied,
    The Regional Federal Attorney lied,

    All by their own admission at a congressional hearing.  How come we do not hear anyone talking about that?

    When asked what the possible motovation could be to give immunity to a known drug smuggler and to rail road a couple of loyal border agents, the Federal Attorney said; "The hispanic vote is very important to the Administration."

    These men need to be pardoned and reinstated, the drug smuggler needs to be caught, convicted and jailed in their stead.  

    Isn't that the point? (none / 0) (#9)
    by squeaky on Sun Feb 11, 2007 at 10:29:19 PM EST
    the drug smuggler needs to be caught, convicted and jailed in their stead.  

    Yes that is the way we do things in America. Execution by border agents is not allowed.

    Border Agents Get 11 & 12 years for Shooting Pot Smuggler | 9 comments (9 topical)