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July 18, 2007

Conviction Of Border Agents 'A Case Of Prosecutorial Overreaction'

[Image: Illegal alien drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila.]

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.), who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee who criticized the heavy sentence two former Border Patrol agents received for non-fatally shooting an illegal alien who smuggled drugs across the border, called the sentence "a case of prosecutorial overreaction."

However, the mere details of Sutton's lengths to prosecute the agents defies common sense.

U.S. District Attorney of West Texas Johnny Sutton, who prosecuted border patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, gave a Mexican national named Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila immunity for testifying against the agents. He had been caught by Ramos and Compean, smuggling 743 pounds of marijuana into the United States, and had been shot in the buttocks while running away after being told to stop. Then, after being given immunity and an humanitarian visa by Sutton's prosecution team for testifying against the agents, the illegal alien drug smuggle later tried again to bring marijuana into the United States.

This is the kind of character the prosecution used to send U.S. border patrol agents to prison for 12 years.

Incredibly, when Feinstein asked Sutton when agents should be able to fire weapons while pursuing a fleeing suspect (remember, we're talking here about an illegal alien drug smuggler), Sutton replied, "If a person does not pose a threat to them, they have to use other than deadly force."

Feinsteing: "How do they do that?"

Sutton: "They chase them off."

Feinsteing: "And, if they try to chase them and chase fails, while they are still yelling 'Stop?'"

Sutton: "That does not authorize them to shoot."

Feinstein: "So, in other words, any drug dealer on the border who doesn't obey a stop command and runs, cannot be shot?"

Sutton: "Yes ma'am,. Unless there are other circumstances, but just the fact they are running and they were a drug dealer is not enough."

To which Feinstein replied: "No wonder so much drugs are coming across the border."

Does any of this make any sense to you? Is this simply a case of prosecutorial overreaction or is it more like completely irrational laws and and the nonsensical application thereof by zealous open border advocate prosecutors?

I suggest the latter.

Related:
The border patrol inquisition
Cop called 'double agent' in Ramos-Compean case - Border Patrol officer accused of helping drug smuggler who was boyhood friend.

Posted by Richard at July 18, 2007 8:53 PM