Nov

24

President Pardon’s Death Row Turkeys - Not Ramos and Compean

November 24, 2007 |

I hate to admit I agree with Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). The sentence doesn’t fit the crime for Ramos and Compean. Being a supporter of the President it grieves me he doesn’t see that the time doesn’t fit the crime (if there was actually any crime committed: shooting a felon in the butt is a crime?). He has one more chance before Christmas and we won’t forget the issue.

[LA Times] WASHINGTON — Conservatives expressed bitter disappointment Friday that President Bush did not use the Thanksgiving holiday to pardon two U.S. border agents who have been imprisoned for a year for shooting and injuring a man now accused of drug smuggling.

“We had hoped that President Bush, who was compassionate enough to pardon two turkeys in the Rose Garden, might also have had enough compassion to pardon two law enforcement officers who spent their lives defending us at the border,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach).

A group of Christian and evangelical leaders — including Paul M. Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation, the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon of the Traditional Values Coalition and David A. Keene of the American Conservative Union — excoriated Bush, saying his inaction ran counter to compassionate conservatism and Christian values.

“It’s unfortunate that the president missed the opportunity to demonstrate his compassion,” the group said Friday. “Such an act would have exemplified the fellowship and spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday and put to rest heartfelt concerns over the inhumane treatment of these two agents.”

The furor over the conviction and imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean has provoked considerable debate: CNN’s Lou Dobbs has made it a staple of his immigration coverage and conservative bloggers regularly assail Bush on the issue.

The White House has said only that Bush would review pardon petitions on a case-by-case basis.

Johnny Sutton, the U.S. attorney for the western district of Texas, has defended the decision to prosecute the border agents. Sutton has said that he did not prosecute law enforcement officials lightly, but that “most agents would say what these guys did was outrageous.”

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have weighed in, saying the case highlights the difficulties of securing the border amid an intense national debate about immigration.

After a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing in July, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) called on the president to commute the agents’ 11- and 12-year sentences.

“The sentence does not match the crime,” she said in a statement, calling the case an example of “prosecutorial overreach” and “a serious miscarriage of justice.”


Comments

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

Speak your mind