Senate hearing to probe Ramos-Compean prosecution

Senate hearing to probe Ramos-Compean prosecution
Feinstein examines controversial case of imprisoned U.S. Border Patrol agents

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein will preside over a Senate judiciary committee hearing examining the prosecution of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean.

The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday at 10 a.m.

As WND reported, Feinstein believes the agents' 11- and 12-year sentences for their actions in the shooting of a Mexican drug smuggler were excessive.

"I strongly believe that the sentences in this case are too extreme, given the criminal nature of the defendant and his possession of large quantities of drugs," Feinstein said in a statement earlier this year. "These men were given sentences that some individuals who are convicted of murder wouldn't receive."

The senator's office has not responded yet to WND's request for more details and comment about the hearing.

The smuggler in the case, Osbaldo Aldrete-Davila, was fired upon as he fled back to Mexico after driving across the border with 742 pounds of marijuana in February 2005. U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton gave Aldrete-Davila immunity to serve as the government's star witness and testify against the border agents. While under immunity, the smuggler was caught in another drug delivery, but the judge sealed that information from the jury.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., is asking a House committee also to examine the case. The congressman wants to look at the involvement of the Mexican government in the decision to prosecute the agents and Texas Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez. Sutton also prosecuted Hernandez, who was convicted of violating the civil rights of two illegal aliens injured from shell fragments that struck them as the officer shot at the tires of a van in which they escaped from a routine traffic stop. The van driver had tried to run over Hernandez.

As WND reported last month, Rohrabacher's press secretary visited Ramos in prison and said he appeared emaciated, losing more than 30 pounds in solitary confinement.

Earlier, WND reported Ramos was beaten by fellow inmates when he was placed in the general prison population at the federal facility in Yazoo City, Miss.

Sutton also prosecuted Border Patrol Agent Noe Aleman for lying in his attempt to legally adopt his wife's three young nieces from Mexico.

WND recently reported a judge reinstated Border Patrol Agent David Sipe six years after his felony conviction for striking an illegal alien who resisted arrest.

Last week, U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., pointing to the presidential commutation of the prison sentence of former vice presidential aide "Scooter" Libby, called on Bush to pardon Ramos and Compean.