Why are two boarder patrol agents in jail for shooting a drug runner in the butt?

Question

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Ignacio Ramos, a boarder patrol agent who has been wrongly jailed. Was beaten in a Mississippi jail this weekend. Why is the drug runner still free but Ramos and Compean are in jail for 10 to 12 years? How does something like this happen in the USA? Why are we not screaming our heads off about this??

They should have gotten fired for not reporting the incident, not 10 to 12 years in prison!

Our government went searching for the drug runner in Mexico after the man’s Mother called a friend whose son is a boarder patrol agent. THEY went and searched him out!! Dam just think what could happen if they put this much effort into finding real criminals.

slack action - THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! LOL I feel like smacking some of these people who have answered!! You are SO right!!

Answer 1

It's funny how many answers are so critical of the border agents, they seem to look right past the fact that there was a criminal smuggling drugs into the country. It's like blaming a rape victim for being sexy.

luv3dbb - all common sense is missing in all aspects of this case, makes my head spin

Answer 2

if i remember correctly,they reported that the drug smuggler also had a weapon,but yet no weapon was found.they reported to report the incident,and when they lied about the whole situation it just made it worse for them.
it boils down to they did not follow procedure and they shot an unarmed man.granted he was an illegal immigrant and he was transporting drugs,that does not make it right to shoot him in the back(butt).
do i think they did wrong?yes i do.do i think that they should get what they got as punishment?no i dont.
these two agents risked their life everyday out on the border to do a job that very few people will do.they were doing a job to feed and take care of their families.now they are stuck in prison with the very same people that they worked hard to keep out of our country.
i think it is a shame the way the judicial system treated these 2 federal agents.
maybe one day after our government realizes how they are screwing up our country,they will let the border patrol do their jobs,as long as it is done right.

Answer 3

What can I say, our system sucks. I think it is crazy that Two border patrol agents, trying to protect our country, are looking at 10-12 years in prison because they covered it up. They gave the drug lord immunity just to find the border patrol agents. Here is a major drug dealer who is crying because he was trying to bring drugs into AMERICA and ended up shot in the butt. This country is going to go to hell if the government doesn't step off and do the right thing. We need to seal our borders, get **** under control and make things right for our CITIZENS. Read the story below. It was on America's Most Wanted.
Granted there are still questions to be answered but how in the world does an admitted felon and drug smuggler get believed over two men who are trying to protect our country against someone just like the man they shot and had every reason to believe he was a drug smuggler.

Answer 4

Update****
Both agents have been incarcerated in federal prisons since the first week of January, one in Ohio and the other in Mississippi, far from loved ones.

Congressman Michael McCaul, Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations, had failed to subpoena documents concerning the case, and refused to hold a hearing to review the case, which was within his purview.

Michael McCaul is a former employee of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton. Since then, McCaul has made public statements in Houston, TX, that under the auspices of his position as Chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Investigations he repeatedly (four times) requested to review the documents concerning the case, and for months, he was stonewalled. He said he trusted his fellow Republicans, including the DHS-IG Richard Skinner and the DHS chief Michael Chertoff when they gave him every assurance that he would be provided with the trial documentation. He admits he made a mistake to trust them, when he sent letters instead of issuing a subpoena.

Many of the factual aspects of the case are now being disputed by investigators, including the ballistics investigation into the weapons fired and the round subsequently extracted from the left buttocks and right groin of the drug smuggler by a U.S. Army doctor.

"For all we know," Poe commented, "the drug smuggler seemed to be pointing back at the Border Patrol agents with what could have been something in his hand based on the ballistics reports I am seeing. U.S. Attorney (Johnny) Sutton says the guy was shot in the buttocks. Well, now we find out that that isn't exactly accurate. The guy was shot from 'cheek-to-cheek,' or maybe from the side of his left buttocks to his right groin. There's a big difference in those two statements. You don't have to be a ballistics expert to understand that the body was turned if the bullet went from one cheek to the other cheek, or from the left cheek to the right groin."

let's assume that the Border Patrol agents violated policy. Assume they didn't file a report even though the law says that they were only required to file an oral report to the supervisor," he asked. "There was no requirement in this instance that they file a written report. Okay, let's discipline the Border Patrol agents, you bet. Let's give them three-day's suspension like the rules call for."

why does the federal government here have a choice to prosecute a guy bringing in a million dollars worth of drugs or prosecute Border Patrol agents who were doing their job, yet the government chose to prosecute the Border Patrol? "Why is the federal government spending so many federal taxpayer resources prosecuting federal Border Patrol agents trying to stop drug smugglers, especially when it means making deals with drug offenders?" he continued. "That's the bigger question in my mind."

Finally, this week, despite the total lack of a court transcript, some long-awaited incident reports regarding the case were delivered to Congress but have been classified secret from the general public. The Congressional Homeland Security Subcommittee on Management, Investment and Oversight obtained the report after submitting an emergency Freedom of Information Act request for the documents.

This is just some of the new information out there..I have been doing my part on www.grassfire.org

Answer 5

Officers Ramos and Compean were sentenced to 11 to 12 years for *failure to report* firing their arms in the line of duty, at a suspected drug smuggler whom they failed to capture. If they had done their jobs correctly, they might have just been reprimanded for shooting an unarmed man in the rear. Instead, they tried to hide it. That made it conspiracy, and now they're in jail. These guys aren't heros, they're Barny Fife.

Answer 6

ok...unless that was the fastest trial in history, they are NOT in jail for 10 to 12 years. president bush already illuded to the fact that americans needed to sit back and wait, because there is a process to follow in order for bush to pardon them. is pardon the word? i think so. anyways...and the reason they are in jail is because at the time of the shooting, they did not know this man was a drug dealer, and they did not know he had drugs in the car, they also lied about the incident and attempted to cover it up.

so they aren't in jail for shooting a drug dealer, they are in jail for shooting an unarmed person in the backside, attempting to conceil the crime, and providing false information ie, being liars.

if these known facts are indeed still proven true throught process of a trail....do not support these men. you support them, and you've just supported every backwood police officer in history who looked the other way when some redneck or kkk member went after an african american. we HAVE to abide by the law, even if you don't like the alternative, in order to protect the people who really need it when the time comes.

Answer 7

Well both of the patrol men fired their weapons, didn't report it and covered up the shooting, they shot at the man before they had even checked to see what he was doing. Afterward they found out that he had marijuana in his van. They shot him and didn't report it.
I do believe that their sentence was excesive, from what I have heard about their case. They should have been repremanded and maybe suspended or lost their jobs. But if they are going to jail for 12 years, maybe there is somthing more to the story than they are letting the public know.

Answer 8

I was sick when I heard this on the radio! And "Nacho" Ramos didn't even get medical treatment until Monday and he was beaten on Saturday. He had blood coming out of his ears because he was severely beaten. This is wrong!!!

They knew this would happen. The prison is full of illegal alien criminals. This is criminal. I am so pissed about this. The illegal alien criminal should be in prison instead of suing the US for $5 million.

Answer 9

The two fired their weapons then covered it up. I do believe the sentence might have been excessive, but they DID break the law. From what I have seen they apparently they believed they had missed the man, so instead of documenting the incident (which they did not want to do because they should have NOT shot at someone running AWAY from them and back to Mexico) so they tried to pretend it never happened.

Sorry, but I don't want police officers choosing to ignore the law and then cover up what they did!!!

Answer 10

Let ME be the deciding answer. Because part of their job is reporting ALL their activity. ESPECIALLY when their GUNS are involved. Any law enforcement PERSON will tell you that once they SHOOT.....the gun and round casings are turned in......TO MAKE IT A GOOD SHOOT.

Do I know all the details to this weird situation NO. Did THEY follow procedure...I would guess not. Is the guy fingering them a valid witness/victim.......this you and I will never know. BUT.....

IF these guys had just followed procedure and reported a RANDOM shooting.......would they be in jail for 12 years? WHY then if they knew the repercussions.......didn't they report. Something ELSE is going here...things YOU and I are not privy too and never will be. Whats the Border control saying for the "THIN BLUE LINE".