Border agent case before appeals court

Houston Chronicle:

A panel of federal appeals court judges will hear arguments today in the controversial case of two former U.S. Border Patrol agents sentenced to more than a decade in prison for shooting a suspected drug smuggler and then trying to cover it up.

The hearing in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans is the latest chapter in a case that has become a flash point in the nation's debate on illegal immigration. On CNN's Lou Dobbs Tonight and on Houston's AM radio waves, former agents Ignacio "Nacho" Ramos and Jose Compean have been hailed as "heroes" and "political prisoners."

"They've been incarcerated in isolation now for almost a year. It's just not right," said Joe Loya, Ramos' father-in-law, who plans to travel to New Orleans with his daughter, Monica Ramos, to hear the appeal of the agents' convictions. "These two men were doing their jobs."

But U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's office paints a very different picture of Ramos and Compean, who were sentenced in October 2006 to 11 and 12 years in prison, respectively. The two were found guilty by a federal jury after a 2 1/2 -week trial on charges of assault, violation of civil rights, use of a firearm during a crime of violence and obstruction of justice.

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Attorneys for the former agents are pushing for a new trial, arguing the agents acted in self-defense, according to briefs filed with the appeals court. They also contend that Ramos and Compean were improperly charged with discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, which carries a mandatory sentence of 10 years. Bob Baskett, Compean's attorney, said that statute should not be applied to law enforcement officers acting in the line of duty.

According to the defense arguments, the federal judge in El Paso erred by allowing Aldrete to invoke the Fifth Amendment on the witness stand, Baskett said, and by not allowing them to question him more extensively about evidence of additional smuggling attempts.

"It basically came down to (Aldrete's) word against theirs, and if he's shown to be a lying dope dealer, that might have influenced the way the jury saw the evidence," Baskett said.

Loya, Ramos' father-in-law, said the agents were "Nifonged," a reference to Mike Nifong, the former Durham County (N.C.) District Attorney who resigned because of misconduct in the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case. Loya said Sutton's office should not have offered Aldrete immunity in exchange for his testimony.

"How could the U.S. Attorney ... take the word of an admitted illegal alien criminal drug smuggler over two agents with 15 years of experience who have been involved in over 100 drug busts and never hurt anybody?" he said. "It doesn't make sense."

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I think there was also some physical evidence to support the charges, but the mistake the US Attorney made was in not using his prosecutorial discretion to see that they were disciplined by ICE instead of sending them to prison for a ridiculous length of time. Clearly the statute used to enhance their sentence was never intended for this situation. Allowing the prosecution witness to claim the fifth on items that were clearly relevant also appears to be a mistake by the judge. This is an appeal that has taken much longer than it should have. My recollection is that it was delayed because the transcript was not prepared in a timely manner.

The AP reports that at least one of the three judge panel had questions about the prosecutors eagerness to prosecute.

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"It does seem to me that the government overreacted here," said Judge E. Grady Jolly, one of three judges of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals hearing the case of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean.

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Jolly, during questioning of Stelmach, said that if the agents had reported the shooting as required, "this prosecution never would have occurred, in all likelihood."

"For some reason, this one got out of hand, it seems to me," Jolly added.

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Hopefully Jolly can find another on the panel who agrees with him.