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While most of you all were worried about old geezers getting in a hunting accident actual news has been going on.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060213/NEWS/602130328/1001
Recent incidents of border violence echoed all the way to Washington, D.C., and Mexico City. Now the issue has seeped into at least one court case.
The prosecution in the case of two Border Patrol agents who allegedly shot an undocumented immigrant in the buttocks a year ago is seeking to exclude from the jury trial any mention of border violence, in particular the recent standoff in Hudspeth County.
The motion, filed by the U.S. Attorney's office last week, asks the judge to instruct the defense not to mention during arguments or witness questioning "the alleged dangerous nature of the border."
Court documents show the government is anticipating that the defense will use the current warnings over increased drug activity at the border to excuse the actions of agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos. The agents shot Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, a drug smuggler, near Fabens as he ran back to Mexico.
Stephen Peters, Ramos' attorney, said he wouldn't discuss his defense strategy in details, but said that "A key factor is what he (Ramos) reasonably believed at the time of the shooting. The circumstances on the border as well as the activity the alien was involved in are relevant."
snip...
A recent standoff in Hudspeth County between law enforcement officers and drug dealers protected by armed uniformed men who looked like Mexican soldiers sparked an international border security debate.
The government argues that the incident is irrelevant to the Ramos-Compean case, and misleading.
"It appears that there is an erroneous belief that individuals transporting illegal drugs across the border routinely carry guns. The actual facts refute this belief. Investigators for the government accumulated statistics that show that in the Fabens Border Patrol area, in one year period, not one arrested drug trafficker possessed a firearm," the motion read.
snip...
The U.S. Attorney's office filed another motion seeking to suppress any mention of Aldrete being an undocumented immigrant and being involved in drug trafficking.
Aldrete was a commercial driver in Mexico whose commercial license had expired and who moved drugs to earn enough money to "feed his family and afford the pricey license," the second motion read.
The government argues that agents did not know Aldrete's immigration status or that he transported drugs until after the shooting when they searched the van Aldrete had crashed while fleeing.
The van carried more than 700 pounds of' marijuana.
The agents reported the drug seizure but not the shooting to their superiors.
It seems Uncle Sam wishes to hide their gross incompetence at protecting our borders and the American people by suppressing relevant information and byprosecuting two border guards who were doing their job.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060213/NEWS/602130328/1001
Recent incidents of border violence echoed all the way to Washington, D.C., and Mexico City. Now the issue has seeped into at least one court case.
The prosecution in the case of two Border Patrol agents who allegedly shot an undocumented immigrant in the buttocks a year ago is seeking to exclude from the jury trial any mention of border violence, in particular the recent standoff in Hudspeth County.
The motion, filed by the U.S. Attorney's office last week, asks the judge to instruct the defense not to mention during arguments or witness questioning "the alleged dangerous nature of the border."
Court documents show the government is anticipating that the defense will use the current warnings over increased drug activity at the border to excuse the actions of agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos. The agents shot Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, a drug smuggler, near Fabens as he ran back to Mexico.
Stephen Peters, Ramos' attorney, said he wouldn't discuss his defense strategy in details, but said that "A key factor is what he (Ramos) reasonably believed at the time of the shooting. The circumstances on the border as well as the activity the alien was involved in are relevant."
snip...
A recent standoff in Hudspeth County between law enforcement officers and drug dealers protected by armed uniformed men who looked like Mexican soldiers sparked an international border security debate.
The government argues that the incident is irrelevant to the Ramos-Compean case, and misleading.
"It appears that there is an erroneous belief that individuals transporting illegal drugs across the border routinely carry guns. The actual facts refute this belief. Investigators for the government accumulated statistics that show that in the Fabens Border Patrol area, in one year period, not one arrested drug trafficker possessed a firearm," the motion read.
snip...
The U.S. Attorney's office filed another motion seeking to suppress any mention of Aldrete being an undocumented immigrant and being involved in drug trafficking.
Aldrete was a commercial driver in Mexico whose commercial license had expired and who moved drugs to earn enough money to "feed his family and afford the pricey license," the second motion read.
The government argues that agents did not know Aldrete's immigration status or that he transported drugs until after the shooting when they searched the van Aldrete had crashed while fleeing.
The van carried more than 700 pounds of' marijuana.
The agents reported the drug seizure but not the shooting to their superiors.
It seems Uncle Sam wishes to hide their gross incompetence at protecting our borders and the American people by suppressing relevant information and byprosecuting two border guards who were doing their job.
