Ramos and Compean

Names you might not have heard until now. I actually hadn't heard of them until Whitney mentioned them a couple weeks ago in the context of a grave injustice being done to them.

Their sentences were commuted down to two years today from the original eleven and ten for Ramos and Compean respectively. So what do I think on the issue? Honestly, I don't know what to think. It seems like the issue of immigration is a firebrand that sets a lot of people off rather needlessly. DEY COMIN INNA ARE COUNTRY GRR type stuff. And really, if they were acting in self defense as they claimed, I would agree.

But it doesn't seem like they were. A man was crossing the Rio Grande from the Mexican side and border agents are there to prevent things like that, fine. Is shooting him the answer? I honestly don't think so, but if the need arises to discharge a weapon in self defense, it's probably necessary. So let's assume all that was true; they were acting in self defense. Just as a starting point. The man was also a convicted drug dealer, but that shouldn't affect how authorities deal with him.

1) The man was fleeing at the time, since he was shot in the buttock. This doesn't imply self defense all that well, as allegedly the man was unarmed.
2) The officers allegedly covered up the shooting by picking up spent shell casings.
3) The officers lied to superiors about the weapon discharge truly happening.

I don't understand why they would go to these lengths to cover up the shooting if it was, indeed, in self defense. It sounds like a case of incompetent law enforcement just out to pump lead into an illegal. And for that, they've become heroes to the hyper-nationalistic conservatives in this country.

So began a Department of Homeland Security internal investigation that uncovered what appeared to be a straightforward case of two federal agents shooting at a man as he ran away and then concealing their actions. Investigators found that Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila had put his hands in the air and tried to surrender, but Compean—instead of apprehending him—had swung at him with the butt of his shotgun. Aldrete-Davila had bolted, and as he ran, Compean and Ramos had fired at him fifteen times, with Compean stopping to reload his Beretta as he tried to hit his mark. Neither agent announced the shooting over the radio or informed his supervisor of what had happened; the official report about the pursuit made no mention of their firing their weapons. And rather than secure the area so that evidence could be preserved, Compean had retrieved most of his spent shell casings and tossed them into a ditch. Only when questioned by investigators a month later did he offer the explanation that he and Ramos had acted in self-defense; Aldrete-Davila had been “pointing something shiny” that “looked like a gun.” A federal jury, which heard both agents’ testimony, rejected their version of events and convicted them on five out of six criminal charges, including assault, obstruction of justice, and civil rights violations.

Prosecutors had offered plea deals to the defendants before trial, including an 18-month term for Ramos and 21 months for Compean, if they would plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges. It was a package deal that both men had to take and which they had declined.