Why is Congressman Ted Poe siding with some convicted border patrol officers? A story from the Houston Chronicle:

Feb. 18, 2007, 1:15AM
Republican Poe helped elevate border agents' case
Congressman from Humble says 2 ex-border agents got bad rap

By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON � Flip on CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight show these days and chances are pretty good you'll see Texas Congressman Ted Poe lamenting the fate of two ex-Border Patrol agents imprisoned for shooting a Mexican drug trafficker.

For months, the Republican from Humble has relentlessly championed the agents' case on cable-TV shows and behind the scenes, helping foment public outrage directed at the White House and President Bush's appointees in the Justice and Homeland Security departments.

Poe, who spent 22 years as a hard-nosed criminal court judge in Houston and eight years before that as a Harris County prosecutor, seems an unlikely choice to be carrying the banner for two convicts.

"It surprises some that I am seen to be on the side of the defendants," Poe acknowledged in an interview.

But the lawmaker, in his second term, said his stance stems directly from his experiences on the bench and at the prosecution table.

"I know the power of the prosecution and how powerful they are," said Poe, who argues that the Justice Department went to extraordinary lengths to prosecute ex-agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos for wounding the drug trafficker in a 2005 border altercation.

Though the two men were duly convicted in a jury trial in El Paso, Poe contends the game was rigged against the defendants because of "back-room deals" given by the prosecution to get the trafficker and other involved Border Patrol agents to testify. He also questions whether information was withheld from the jury.

And Poe is uneasy about what he views as Mexican interference into the case, citing letters written by Mexican consular officials seeking prosecution.

Asked whether he ever worries that he may be defending rogue officers, which is what prosecutors insist Ramos and Compean were, Poe expresses no uncertainty.

"They are not rogue border agents," he said.

But Poe also has no patience with fellow conservatives whose rhetoric has soared to broach the possibility of impeachment of Bush if either of the ex-agents is killed in prison. Ramos was attacked by six inmates at his Mississippi prison recently after they saw his case air on TV.

"That's an absurd answer," Poe said of the impeachment talk.

I've followed that case a little bit, Ken, and I'm not so sure the Senator is on the dark side on this one.

This is a version off of America's Most Wanted website...

Family: Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos Beaten In Prison; Groups Taking Action
2/6/2007

On Saturday, February 3, AMW ran a story that touched many nerves all across the country. Shortly after the airing, a group of prison thugs assaulted former Border Patrol agent Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos while he was resting in his cell. Now, groups nationwide are taking action to urge President Bush to pardon Border Patrol Agents Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean. One grassroots group has even launched a self-financed nationwide ad campaign to put pressure on the White House.


Heroes?

For Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos, February 17, 2005 was just another day of endless watching and waiting for illegal immigrants to cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. But catching illegals was a piece of cake compared to their battle against the drug cartels who are better-armed and whose foot soldiers outnumber them.
Over the last ten years or so, agents have been involved in a growing number of gun battles with drug runners on this side of the border. To say the least, the bad guys are getting more brazen and trigger-happy. So far, at least four smugglers have been killed.

Our guardians of the Border have suffered no casualties. But the thought is always there: "Is this going to be my day? Will I make it home tonight?"

Compean and Ramos may have been wondering that very thing as the events of February 7 began to unfold. The following is what occurred, according to TJ Bonner, President of the National Border Patrol Council:

Checking on a tripped sensor near the river, Agent Compean discovers footprints and drag marks -- a tip-off that a load of drugs has just been smuggled across the river. Spotting a vehicle leaving the scene, Compean radios the vehicle's description to agents covering the road ahead. Realizing he's been spotted, the smuggler turns around and heads back toward Compean.

According to Bonner, when the smuggler bails out of his van to make a run for the river, he fails to obey Compean's numerous commands to stop. After a brief physical struggle, the smuggler begins running toward the river again.

When he turns and points something shiny at Compean, the agent, believing his life is in danger, opens fire. Agent Ramos, hearing gunshots, comes to Compean's aide. He too shouts for the smuggler to stop, but this man once again turns around and points at Ramos. Ramos fires one shot. He appears to miss as his target turns and disappears into the bank of the Rio Grande.

Border Patrol agents return to the suspicious van and look wide-eyed at almost 800 pounds of marijuana, worth about a million bucks on the street. Agents seize the payload and it seems like they've done their jobs. But a bizarre turn of events and an apparent miscarriage of justice would soon find Ramos and Compean on the wrong side of the courtroom.


Two Border Patrol Agents seize a van full of marijuana as the smuggler flees across the border. So how did that seemingly common scenario result in the agents facing long prison terms?
A Complex Story

At the center of this baffling miscarriage of justice is this man, illegal alien Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila. For some reason, the US Attorney's Office believed his story over two experienced Border Patrol Agents.
View LargerAccording to U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, Ramos and Compean are not heroes. He points out that the officers may have something to hide: he says they picked up shell casings at the scene. He also claims they failed to report the incident as required to their supervisors.
In fact, Sutton filed charges against the two. Thanks to an odd partnership and a series of curious decisions, Compean and Ramos face long prison sentences.

The man behind the wheel of the marijuana-packed van was Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, an illegal alien and according to The New American, an admitted felon and drug smuggler. After this encounter, according to court testimony, Aldrete-Davila's family contacted a friend of the family, Rene Sanchez, a naturalized U.S. citizen and Border Patrol Agent, for advice. Sanchez now had to choose between his brothers in arms and a boyhood friend.

According to court testimony, Sanchez tutored Aldrete-Davila on getting back at Ramos and Compean, helping him obtain counsel and working out the best immunity deal he could.

It now fell to the U.S. Attorney, who was forced to decide which story he believed. He opted to believe Aldrete-Davila's account of that day, not the stories of Ramos and Compean. According to his version of events, Aldrete-Davila did not have a gun and was shot while trying to escape two Border Patrol Agents whom he feared.

But according to TJ Bonner, the Army doctor who treated Aldrete-Davila (on the taxpayer's dime), that story doesn't hold water. According to Bonner, Aldrete-Davila's entrance wound was on the left side of his left buttock and the bullet was found in his right side.

That entry wound is not consistent with someone fleeing. Rather, it looks like someone taking the "bladed stance," i.e., pointing a gun at someone. The stance would come from somenone firing a gun in his left hand. Bonner says Aldrete-Davila is, in fact, left-handed. Still, the prosecutor, described by Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas), as overzealous, continued to believe Aldrete-Davila's scenario.

On March 8, 2006, a Federal Jury convicted the two agents of assault with serious bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, discharge of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence and civil rights violations. But that verdict is in question as well.

According to the National Border Patrol Council, "three of the twelve jurors later submitted sworn affidavits alleging that they had been misled into believing that there could be no dissent in the decision of the jury, and that the minority would have to accede to the will of the majority. Despite this cloud over the propriety of the process, the judge refused to overturn the verdict."

On January 17, 2007, both former agents walked into the U.S. Marshals Service office in El Paso, Texas to begin serving their time. Aldrete-Davila, on the other hand, is now suing the U.S. government for $5 million.

This is an obvious case of he said/they said. On the one hand, there is an illegal alien, on American soil, driving a van full of about $1 million in drugs. On the other side are two experienced law enforcement officers.The U.S. Attorney's Office contacted an AMW producer, offering to give their side of this story. While the U.S. Attorney reiterated his stance on the issue, he never answered the question of why he sided with Aldrete-Davila instead of Compean and Ramos.

The interview also contained conflicting information. At one point, when asked why Aldrete-Davila wasn't charged with any crime, Sutton says that because of Ramos' and Compean's actions, there was no evidence to charge the alleged drug smuggler. Yet, moments earlier, Sutton admitted that Aldrete-Davila's van was found with a large quantity of marijuana.

Did Ramos and Compean make mistakes? Yes: no one can disagree on that. Should they have been punished and reprimanded for their transgressions? Again, everyone agrees that they should. But the 11- and 12-year sentences are forcing Border Patrol agents and law enforcement in general to question everything they do, at the detriment of our safety.


Family: Ramos Beaten By Prison Thugs

US Attorney Johnny Sutton requested to tell his side of the story to America's Most Wanted producers. Despite the interview, questions still remain.

After AMW ran the story of Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos on February 3, 2007, he was badly beaten by prison thugs in a federal penitentiary in Yazoo City, Mississippi. His family says after a number of inmates recognized him from the show as a former border patrol agent, they viciously beat him.

After seeing AMW's story, about five fellow prisoners waited until Ramos fell asleep and beat him badly, yelling "maten a la migra", which means "kill the border patrol agent" in Spanish. According to his family, he suffered wounds to his back, shoulder, arms and head.

Ramos and fellow agent Jose Compean are serving time for shooting an illegal drug smuggler as he tried to flee across the border.

Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) issued a statement on Tuesday that criticized the White House for not protecting Ramos in prison, and asking President Bush to pardon the two border patrol agents.

"Not only did the administration choose the side of a foreign dope runner over the agents who stopped him from smuggling a load of drugs into the county -- now they've failed to protect that agent while his case is on appeal," Rep. Tancredo said.

So far, America's Most Wanted has received thousands of phone calls and e-mails expressing sympathy for these agents' plight. Meantime, the group Grassfire.org has started a website called PardonTheAgents.com. The website has an online petition that has already generated more than three hundred twenty-five thousand signatures from Americans urging President Bush to pardon the two agents. What's more--the group RapidResponse Media created a self-financed television ad to help put more pressure on the White House to pardon the men. The ads will soon be seen on televisions nationwide.

The creator of the ads, Demos Chrissos, told "America's Most Wanted", "These two television spots are a snapshot of the common sense outrage about what happened to agents Ramos and Compean. This is truly a grassroots effort - people coming together on their own for a common cause to help these two agents. I made these spots not knowing where they would end up but then I saw what Grassfire.org was doing with their petition drive and I knew it would be a perfect fit."

[This message was edited by GG on 02-22-07 at .]

I don't know enough about the case since I've only seen bits and pieces here and there, but, the one segment I saw on AMW made no mention whatsoever of what it was the the border agents did that was improper. My understanding is that they shot at the drug runner and then tried to clean it up by picking up their brass and making no mention of it in any of their reports. Not saying it's true and not saying that if it is they deserved 11 & 12 years for it. Just pointing out that none of the stuff I've seen, limited though it may be, about their cases seems to ever mention their alleged wrong doings. Whenever that happens, it really makes me skeptical as to what's being aired and that it's only presenting one side of the argument.

I know, I know, the media rarely does this, right?

For sure it's a difficult situation to contemplate without knowing all of the evidence and how the investigation went down. I've always known Johnny Sutton to be a very honest individual, way back to his days in Harris County, so personally I have a hard time believing the whole spin on it.

Yet, I can see Congressmen Poe and Culberson views on this as well. And the medical evidence is interesting as well.

It is a very difficult time to be in law enforcement in the border area. And even more deadly on the other side of the Rio Grande.

There are a number of observations I have. First, no one seems to be jumping up and down about the lucky valley "Hooters Million" cop and his hard to believe tale from Georgia. It would be interesting to see the records of his cell accounts and who he had been communicating with prior to his windfall out of the Hooters dumpster.

Secondly, why wasn't Ramos, as a former law enforcement officer, automatically placed into some sort of ad seg to protect him. Isn't this SOP in both jail and prison settings throughout the nation? It's been 21 years since I received my degree in Criminal Justice but I clearly recall some corrections classes talking about the ad seg of special catagories of inmates even way back then.

[This message was edited by GG on 02-27-07 at .]

As time passes, more and more congressmen and conservative talk show hosts are climbing on the bandwagon in support of the convicted Border Patrol agents Ramos and Compean.

I'm a former state trooper, remain a commissioned police officer and am very, very supportive of law enforcement. However, I refuse to accept the claims by many, including my personal hero, G. Gordon Liddy , that there is a governmental conspiracy against law enforcement.

Johnny Sutton has dealt with numerous situations over the years in which BP agents have shot illegal aliens, and he has reviewed the evidence and subsequently exonerated almost 100% of the officers from any wrongdoing. I refuse to believe that the two agents did everything "by the book" and Mr. Sutton just decided that he'd give the Mexican drug-runner a break and instead prosecute the agents.

Ramos and Compean shot an unarmed man, covered up what they'd done, filed a false report and were ultimately prosecuted and later convicted by a jury in an extremely Border Patrol-friendly area of the state.

Johnny Sutton has better things to do than prosecute "American heros." I strongly agree that 11 and 12 years in prison is entirely too severe; however, the US Congress is responsible for those minimum sentencing guidelines.

[This message was edited by Alan on 04-28-07 at .]