Saunders: The Final Bush Pardons

[Terri]

By Debra Saunders
January 21, 2009

On his way out of office, President Bush used his power of the pardon to commute the sentences of former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who had been sentenced to 11 years and 12 years respectively for shooting and wounding a fleeing drug smuggler in 2005 and then covering up the incident. It was the right move.

Ramos and Compean supporters no doubt would have preferred it if Bush had pardoned the agents -- which would have cleared their criminal records. In that Bush had stood by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton's prosecution of the agents, as well as the jury verdicts, this is the best outcome that was to be had.

When Bush commuted the 30-month sentence of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, he did not fully pardon Libby. He let a $250,000 fine and two years of probation stand, although he did override the prison sentence because it was "excessive."

More (http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/dsaunders/2009/ds_01211.shtml)

[Cynical Pete]

Although Bush is a Christian, he mised the part to forgive. While governor of Texas, he would not change the death sentence of Karla Fay Tucker who was convicted of murder to a life sentence after she changed, showed intense remorse and also became a Chrisitan.
Then too, an arrest record is as harmful as a conviction as this will be on the two border patrol agents record forever and can and will be used against them as well as their conviction record. Their lives are over unless they can get their erroneous convitions overturned. They will have to fight the American System of Injustice for many years to achieve a semblence of fairness. There are many, many innocents in the same unforgiving pit.The American people must help to overturn these legal horrors where crime is legal and fighting crime is not. It must be made legal to defend your life and the lives of others. As a side thought, the laws also must be changed to make it legal to defend property from being stolen or damaged by the criminal element.

[welder4]

I have heard from some where that you had to have served at least 5 years of a sentence to be fully pardoned, or at least five years to have past.if there is any one out here today that knows about that please inform so I can do what I need to do in getting Obama to finish the job of pardon for these two men who were only doing their jobs and protecting our borders from a drug dealing scalawag. I intend to write from now until election day in 2012 to try to get them a pardon I would like to ask all that did so before to keep it up with Obama he may have a clearer view of their plight then Bush had . I feel that an over zealous prosecutor and a stupid mandatory sentence railroaded these two into prison when they should have been given a commendation .

[ONTIME]

G.W. Bush's sense of justice trumps his compassion as it proves out, in the case of Ramos and Campeon a commutation of their sentence is a blessing but their lives are in shambles for doing their duty and being prosecuted by their own government with some of the worst evidence ever used in a federal court's history, by a very dubious federal prosecutor who knowingly withheld evidence. These two men and their families will recieve not one whit of reparation for this miscarriage of American justice. How can it be justice when Bush looked at the evidence and Sutton cannot stand up to the question asked about his prosecution? Ramos and Campeon deserve more but it will never come about and in this case the corruptness of Mexico's influence triumphs over American justice.

[RW]

I have heard from some where that you had to have served at least 5 years of a sentence to be fully pardoned, or at least five years to have past.if there is any one out here today that knows about that please in

Apparently not, Welder4.

Marc Rich, one of Bill's pardons, never served a day, and was a fugitive in Europe, either Switzerland or Monaco. Hillary's brother, Roger, was out on appeal, for cocaine, when he was pardoned.

I believe you are thinking of yet another scenario...clemency.

[garryb]

I'm glad he finally commuted the sentences of the two border patrol agents. I'm not sure whether pardon would be the right decision when you consider that they did lie under oath, they did try to cover up the incident, and they did shoot an unarmed man while he was running away from them. You can't always look at only one side, however I do think them being prosecuted using the "Use of a gun while committing a felony" citation was totally out of line. Maybe a couple of years and a fine, loss of job would have been appropriate. You do need to have TRUSTWORTHY men patrolling our borders and our streets when they are armed. That bears a certain amount of responsibility.

As for Karla Fay Tucker, this woman was an axe murderer. The fact that she "got religion" did nothing for the two people that she hacked up with an axe. I think this was a totally appropriate decision by GWB.

[Charie]

Although Bush is a Christian, he mised the part to forgive. While governor of Texas, he would not change the death sentence of Karla Fay Tucker who was convicted of murder to a life sentence after she changed, showed intense remorse and also became a Chrisitan.


I believe that the governor of Texas does not have the authority to commute any death sentences.

Seems to me I heard President Bush say that on the Letterman program before the 2000 election when Letterman asked him if he liked death sentences.

[Jolanta]

Personally, I would not have shed a single tear if the drug runner Osvaldo Aldrete Davila had been shot to death in that pursuit. Tell me the truth someone...are we or are we not trying to keep recreational drugs OUT of our country?

[qrayjack]

are we or are we not trying to keep recreational drugs OUT of our country?
In some instances, no. We're talking about huge sums of money. Too much incentive for corruption.

[utexas]

I wish they would’ve received a full pardon rather than a commutation. But that is better than nothing. At least they are free.

I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to make a living writing books on their experiences, doing consulting work, and making money on the speaker tour. Surely with their notoriety, some conservative with deep pockets or much influence will be able to find them a source of employment.

[Gumbi]

While I am glad that Ramos & Compeon sentences were commuted, I didn't care for the article or the writer. Seemed like a liberal hack job to me.

[Herb1949]

This is a liberal hack job on the mandatory sentences.

"The status quo is neither tough nor smart -- it's mean and stupid."

"Mean" is a typical lib buzzword.
The author points out that the problem is the mandatory sentencing.

WRONG!!!

There are 3 ways that the mandatory sentence could have been avoided.
The prosocuter decides what charge s/he is going to bring. Sutton chose to HAMMER them.
The judge has the option of throwing out the charge because it does not apply. The judge chose to hammer them.
They did NOT lie about what happened. For the idiot that wrote that, go out on the web, the complete transcript and a lot of evidence that was NOT allowed to be presented is available.
The jury could have found them not guilty on this charge. They would have, IF all of the pertinate information had been available to them. The JUDGE chose to disallow information and evidence that would have effected the out come of the trial.
There are articles/interviews with the jurors where they state that if they had been presented with information, they now have, they would have found them not guilty.
This was a railroad from the start and President Bush went along with it because of his cow-towing to the illegal aliens.
This was a travesty of justice from the start.
While I am glad that he did commute the sentences, he could have and should have issued a full pardon.

[Terri]

They did NOT lie about what happened. For the idiot that wrote that, go out on the web, the complete transcript and a lot of evidence that was NOT allowed to be presented is available.
I understand that emotions run high on this topic but please do not call other members names. We expect civility between members. Disagree on issues but no namecalling, please.

[Thundercat505]

I also, while happy they will be free'd I am not happy that bush did not go against his buddy sutton and the judge who wrongly sentenced these guys with a full pardon.

yes, they were rail roaded, yes, pertinent information was withheld from the jury, yes they failed to write the report but they did make a verbal report to their super who did not back them up as he should have. claims have been made that they went back out and tried to "clean up" the area by picking up their brass--which I find hard to believe since I have tried to pick up my brass after firing an auto pistol and it is next to impossible to find all of it.

therefore someone should be able to bring charges against sutton and the judge and put them into prison in place of these guys for using their offices illegally. further checks into their finances to see if they recieved monies from this drug dealer should also be pursued since I personally believe that it happened.

however this is better than we had hoped in some ways because at least they are not rotting for the next 10 years over this. as stated, books, speaking tours etc. might come into play so they will be able to make a living--probably better than they would have if they had stayed on the force. there are too many like us out there that have influence that will do something for these guys, so if nothing else they might wind up in politics somewhere as analysts, advisors etc.

[Jolanta]

If I were one of Agents Ramos or Compean, I would sue Johnny Sutton for every penny he owns, for SLANDER. Then I would appeal to President Obama for a full pardon. I would never give up working to clear my name.