By Chuck Baldwin
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Any thoughts that the U.S. Justice Department and U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton were sincerely seeking true justice with the prosecution and conviction of former U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean have been thoroughly exposed as blatantly disingenuous by the recent revelation of Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA).
Readers who are following this unbelievable case know that Rep. Rohrabacher is scheduled to conduct congressional hearings today regarding the Ramos and Compean affair. I am confident that Rohrabacher will focus much of the committee's investigation on the illegitimacy of the Justice Department's star witness, Mexican drug-runner Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, and the possibility that the Mexican government was involved in our country's prosecution of the two Border Patrol agents.
Congressman Rohrabacher obtained copies of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) border pass cards issued to Aldrete-Davila via a Freedom of Information Act request. What he discovered is proof beyond all doubt that the prosecution of Ramos and Compean was illegitimate and that the two agents should be immediately released.
Rohrabacher discovered that Aldrete-Davila was, at the time he was granted border pass cards by the DHS, already involved in an active drug cartel. Beyond that, Aldrete-Davila brought a "second load" of over 700 pounds of marijuana into the United States after receiving his border passes.
Remember, Ramos and Compean were convicted on the strength of the testimony of the drug smuggler, Aldrete-Davila, who had been granted complete immunity from prosecution for his testimony against the two agents. The case ultimately came down to the word of an illegal Mexican drug smuggler against the word of two Border Patrol agents, one of whom (Ramos) had been nominated for Border Patrol Agent of the Year in 2005 (the same year he was indicted). Sutton convinced a jury to believe the drug-smuggler. This is a decision many of the jurors now regret, by the way.
Are you putting all this together? U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton ignored the fact that Aldrete-Davila had been caught smuggling drugs a second time before giving him immunity and proceeding with his testimony against Ramos and Compean. Of course, all of this was kept from the jury. By any standard of justice, this would constitute grounds for complete dismissal of all charges against Ramos and Compean.
In today's congressional hearings, Rohrabacher will also focus on the fact that the Justice Department did not decide to prosecute Ramos and Compean until after receiving a demand from the Mexican Consulate that the two agents be punished for wounding the Mexican drug dealer.
Remember, too, that the physician who removed the bullet-fragment from Aldrete-Davila's leg testified that the bullet placement was not inconsistent with someone who might be in a position to fire a weapon at the agents. This means the drug dealer was not shot in the back as Sutton claimed. In other words, the only word we have that the drug dealer was unarmed is the word of the drug dealer. The agents said they believed they saw a weapon.
At this point, let me invite readers to listen to my interview with Todd Hartley and PHX News out of Phoenix, Arizona regarding the imprisonment of Ramos and Compean. In his interview with me, Todd said that as he spoke with Ramos' family, my name kept coming up, so he wanted to do an interview with me for the benefit of his radio listeners.
Feel free to listen and share this interview with everyone you can.
If there is one message the White House needs to hear, it is this: Mr. President, release Ramos and Compean!
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