We Are A Nation Of Laws

In one of his last acts in office, George W. Bush, commuted the sentences of two Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a suspected drug smuggler in 2005.

Alex Koppelman wrote an in-depth article about the case in Salon.com back in 2007.

From the Salon.com article:

[I]n the Texas desert southeast of El Paso, two U.S. Border Patrol agents fired 15 bullets at a suspected drug dealer who was fleeing on foot toward the border. The man, a Mexican national, was hit once in the buttocks but made it across the Rio Grande. The agents who fired their weapons, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, were sentenced to more than a decade in prison for firing on an unarmed man and then trying to cover up the crime.

For the prosecutors and the jury, the shooting of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila near Fabens, Texas, was a clearly unlawful use of force. But the conviction of Ramos and Compean was just the beginning of the agents' story. Within months, they had become the center of a dubious political crusade that would energize the furthest reaches of the right, dominate one of CNN's most popular news programs, and persuade a quarter of the U.S. House of Representatives -- and one prominent Democratic senator -- to reject the findings of a federal court.

...

At trial in the federal courthouse in El Paso, Border Patrol agents from the Fabens station took the stand to testify against Ramos and Compean. Fellow agents, including one who had observed the shooting, contradicted Compean's story about where he was and how he was positioned when he fired his weapon. The agent who had helped Compean hide shell casings admitted it under oath. Prosecutors showed that Compean had repeatedly changed his story about the shooting and that it didn't match Ramos' account. They were also able to show that although Compean had discussed the shooting with other agents after it happened, it wasn't until his arrest that he began claiming that Aldrete-Davila had had a gun.

The prosecution's version of events was convincing enough for the jury, in March 2006, to find Ramos and Compean guilty of all but assault with intent to commit murder. Most media coverage of the case was local, and it comported with the jury's verdict: a bad shooting, a coverup and damning testimony from fellow agents that led to an uncontroversial conviction. Seven months later, a judge sentenced Ramos and Compean to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively.

But by the time of their sentencing, the right wing had discovered the agents and begun constructing a new narrative. Ramos and Compean's newfound supporters soon settled on a radically different version of the shooting, cobbled together from speculation, rumors, misstatements of fact and various unproven assertions cherry-picked from the case the defense presented at trial.

In the right-wing version of the Aldrete-Davila case, the officers shot at the suspect because they feared for their safety. The agents' supporters say the fleeing suspect may, in fact, have been armed. In their scenario, Compean fell to one knee after trying to restrain Aldrete-Davila with the shotgun, and the suspect ran away. Compean then chased Aldrete-Davila and tackled him. Aldrete-Davila got away again. As Aldrete-Davila ran toward the border, he extended a gun behind him as if to fire, and Compean started shooting in self-defense. Ramos saw Compean on the ground, heard the shots and, believing his fellow agent shot or in danger, fired the bullet that hit Aldrete-Davila. Once the case went to trial, federal prosecutors supposedly manipulated witnesses and covered up Aldrete-Davila's misdeeds -- actually quashing a sealed indictment for drug smuggling -- in order to secure convictions of the two agents.

The story that Ramos and Compean's supporters constructed was essentially unchallenged by the mainstream media -- because the mainstream media wasn't paying attention. When traditional news outlets did cover Ramos and Compean, it was to comment on the right's fascination with the case, but not to examine or debunk the right's reporting.

Here are the US Code violations Ramos was charged with and the sentence for each crime he was found guilty of:

18:113G.F ASSAULT WITH A DANGEROUS WEAPON AND AIDING AND ABETTING
12 months and 1 day imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment
18:113B.F ASSAULT WITH SERIOUS BODILY INJURY AND AIDING AND ABETTING
12 months and 1 day imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and a $100.00 Special Assessment
18:924C.F DISCHARGE OF A FIRARM IN COMMISSION OF A CRIME OF VIOLENCE
Sentenced to 120 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment
18:242.F DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS UNDER COLOR OF LAW
12 months and 1 day imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and a $100.00 Special Assessment

And here are Compean's charges and sentences:

18:113G.F ASSAULT WITH A DANGEROUS WEAPON AND AIDING AND ABETTING
Sentenced to 24 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and a $100.00 Special Assessment
18:113B.F ASSAULT WITH SERIOUS BODILY INJURY AND AIDING AND ABETTING
Sentenced to 24 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment
18:924C.F USE OF A FIREARM IN RELATION TO A CRIME OF VIOLENCE
Sentenced to 120 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment
18:1512C.F TAMPERING WITH AN OFFICIAL PROCEEDING
Sentenced to 24 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment
18:1512C.F TAMPERING WITH A OFFICIAL PROCEEDING
Sentenced to 24 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment
18:1512C.F TAMPERING WITH AN OFFICIAL PROCEEDING
Sentenced to 24 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment
18:1512C.F TAMPERING WITH AN OFFICIAL PROCEEDING
Sentenced to 24 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment
18:242.F DEPRIVATION OF RIGHTS UNDER COLOR OF LAW
Sentenced to 24 months imprisonment to be followed by 3 years supervised release and $100.00 Special Assessment

Regardless of the findings of the jury and the fact sheet released by the U.S. Attorney, George W. Bush, the man who admitted to Brit Hume, "“I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what's moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are...probably read the news themselves,” did not bother to find out the real story and acceded to the false hue and cry of justice miscarried.

From the McClatchy article:

"Our prayers have been answered!" [Representative Dana] Rohrabacher [R. CA] said in a statement Monday. "This is not just a day of celebration for the families but it is a victory for all Americans, while acknowledging our system is flawed, to see that if they are involved, if they speak up and utilize their freedom, injustices can be corrected."

...

"I am very pleased to learn that the president has commuted the sentences," [Senator Dianne] Feinstein [D. CA] said in a statement. "Senator Cornyn [R. Tx] and I held an extensive hearing that looked deeply into this case, and I believe this commutation is deserved."

Our justice system has its flaws, but this case was not of them. In this case the injustices were setting the truth aside and commuting the sentences. As you can see from the Congressional support, Bush wasn't the only one who failed in his duty as a public servant. Sometimes justice is blind because she gets a thumb poked in her eyes.