[movermike] movermike: Guard the Borders Blogburst
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Mon Feb 12 22:32:55 EST 2007
Posted by movermike:
Guard the Borders Blogburst
http://www.movermike.com/posts/1171337569.shtml
By [1]Heidi Thiess
[sutton.jpg]
We are still closely watching the Border Patrol case, especially after
last week's explosive news that the [2]DHS had lied to Congressmen who
were looking into the case. Close on the heels of that shocking
revelation, we noted that US Attorney Johnny Sutton, the prosecutor in
this case, has lied openly and repeatedly about this case to the
media. In an effort to counter Sutton's lies, here is one of his
[3]favorite public statements about Border Patrol agents Ramos and
Compean deconstructed:
"These guys did very serious crimes and once anybody who knows all
the facts of this case â the fact that they shot at an unarmed guy
15 times, lied about it, covered it up, destroyed the evidence ...
it's hard for me to imagine a prosecutor would look the other way,"
he said.
([4]Click here to continue reading)
1. It has not been proven that the drug smuggler was unarmed. Sutton
has been unable to prove it, yet he states it like it's a fact.
Furthermore, two of the drug smuggler's own family members have made
statements that he has been running drugs since he was 13 or 14 and
has never smuggled drugs without being armed.
2. Compean and Ramos DID NOT LIE about shooting the drug smuggler.
They didn't know that they had until almost a month later! And it's
still not proven that Ramos is the one who shot the drug smuggler.
3. The DID NOT try to "cover it up". They [5]verbally reported to
their superiors that they fired their weapons.
4. They DID NOT destroy evidence. Sutton has been harping on this
because he claims that the site of the shooting was a "crime scene"
and that the BP agents knowingly altered the scene of the crime by
picking up their shell casings. That is FALSE. The agents, including
the agents that were with them at the time of the shooting, did NOT
designate the area a crime scene, since they did NOT know that the
drug smuggler had been shot.
5. In fact, far from lying about the incident or "covering it up",
Ramos and Compean [6]followed procedures exactly:
U.S. Border Patrol firearms policy specifically states that agents
are prohibited from filing a report if a shooting incident takes
place and that only an oral report to supervisors is required.
"Ensure that supervisory personnel or INS investigating officers
are aware that employees involved in a shooting incident shall not
be required or allowed to submit a written statement of the
circumstances surrounding the incident," according to the firearms
policy. "All written statements regarding the incident shall be
prepared by the local INS investigating officers and shall be based
upon an interview of the INS employee."
INS refers to the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which
oversaw the Border Patrol prior to the creation of the Department
of Homeland Security. The shooting policy has remained unchanged.
Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General
documents obtained by the paper show that all nine agents on the
scene at the time of the shooting - including two supervisors -
knew shots had been fired.
Oscar Garcia, El Paso Border Patrol Union representative with Local
1929 and a firearms instructor, said that the Report of
Apprehension or Seizure filed by Compean and Ramos on the day of
the incident was accurate. Garcia stated that the agent's omission
of the shooting in the drug seizure report followed firearms
policy.
"Our own policy prohibits them from filing any report on the
shooting incident," Garcia said. "The U.S. Attorney's assertion
that they covered up the incident by not filing a report is
ridiculous."
6. On Saturday, it was further revealed that two of the Border Patrol
agents that had testified on behalf of the prosecution against Ramos
and Compean [7]also lied in their testimony during the trial.
Two Border Patrol agents who testified against two co-workers
convicted of shooting a drug smuggler will be fired for changing
their stories about events surrounding the shooting, according to
documents obtained by the Daily Bulletin.
Sources inside the Border Patrol also say Oscar Juarez, a third
agent who testified against Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and
Jose Alonso Compean, resigned from the agency last month shortly
before he was to be fired.
All three agents gave sworn testimony against Ramos and Compean for
the U.S. Attorney's Office, which successfully prosecuted the
shooting case in March. The agents were given immunity in exchange
for their testimony despite changing their accounts of the incident
several.
"When you give deals to witnesses like immunity, the government
usually gets the testimony (it wants)," said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas,
a former judge and prosecutor. "This case is a perfect example."
What else is Johnny Sutton up to, besides being a bald-faced liar and
coercing others to lie? As we've already reported in our previous
coverage, he's an [8]over-zealous prosecutor of American law
enforcement officers who are doing their best to protect America and
themselves from coyotes, drug smugglers, and the other criminals
turning our borders into a war zone. Ramos and Compean are not
Sutton's only victims:
A Texas deputy sheriff who fired shots at a fleeing vehicle after
the driver tried to run him down faces 10 years in prison for
injuring one of the passengers, a Mexican national being smuggled
illegally into the United States.
The U.S. attorney, who won lengthy prison terms last year for two
U.S. Border Patrol agents in the shooting of a drug-smuggling
suspect, also prosecuted Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F.
Hernandez, who is to be sentenced next month.
The deputy's boss, Sheriff Donald G. Letsinger, said his officer --
who had been on the job for a year -- "followed the letter of the
law" in defending himself in the April 2005 incident and questioned
why the government brought charges.
"This is a fine young man, and I just don't believe he committed
the wrong of which he was accused," Sheriff Letsinger said. "I have
never had anything hurt me so badly as this prosecution. We've got
to make this right."
Rep. Ted Poe, Texas Republican, called the prosecution and
conviction of Hernandez, known to his friends as "Gilmer," "another
example of how the federal government is more concerned about
people [who are] illegally invading America than it is about the
men who protect America."
"Once again, our government is on the wrong side of the border
war," Mr. Poe said.
The deputy's Dec. 1 conviction has enraged his hometown of
Rocksprings, Texas, population 1,250, where "Free Gilmer" signs
have been posted. The Baptist church is paying the deputy's
mortgage and others have come up with costs for the family's truck,
propane and water bills. Hernandez, 25, and his wife, Ashley, have
a 4-month-old daughter.
"The town is outraged that this has happened to our deputy," said
the Rev. Albert Green, pastor at the First Baptist Church. "Those
people were in this country illegally, and they tried to run him
down. They were the criminals, but the prosecutors made our deputy
out to be the criminal."
"I do not know a single person who doesn't feel Gilmer was
prosecuted for doing his job," said Mr. Green, who is the deputy's
pastor. "I do not know a finer, more well-behaved gentleman. He
would not purposely or willfully hurt anyone."
U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, appointed in October 2001 by President
Bush, said Hernandez fired shots at the vehicle as it sped away
"knowing it was occupied with the nine individuals," at least seven
of whom were illegal aliens -- some of whom later were called to
testify for the government.
Hernandez was convicted after a jury trial in U.S. District Court
in Del Rio, Texas, 75 miles southwest of Rocksprings -- found
guilty of violating "under the color of law" the civil rights of
Maricela Rodriguez-Garcia, a Mexican national.
Furthermore, those same illegals LIED about Hernandez shooting at them
after they crashed their vehicle and fled on foot:
Sheriff Letsinger also said the Rangers and Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, using dogs and metal
detectors, found four shell casings at the traffic stop site but
none at the crash site -- discounting claims by two of the
vehicle's occupants that Hernandez fired shots at them as they fled
the vehicle.
Nevertheless, Sutton treated the testimony of illegals already proven
to be liars as inviolable, while painting Hernandez as a "rogue cop"
(sound familiar?) and has imprisoned Hernandez for doing his job. But
it doesn't stop there. Sutton has a very dirty track record. In 2004,
in an effort to protect one of his star witnesses - a Mexican
informant - he covered up the informant's participation in 15 tortures
and murders at the "House of Death" in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
Apparently, no crime is too vile for Sutton when it comes to
protecting his informants. Just as he protected the notorious drug
smuggler Aldrete-Davila and provided whim with taxpayer funded
benefits such as a vehicle and a green card, so he has previously
protected and paid off an informant that he KNOWS is a mass murderer.
In fact, Sutton's office has gone to great lengths to conceal the
heinous crimes of their informant and have moved him frequently to
keep him away from other American law enforcement agencies, such as
the DEA. Furthermore, Sutton has been involved in making huge payments
in "hush money" to this informant - over $50,000 - which was disguised
as a payment to a different informant who was already dead. Now Sutton
has gone to his high-level contacts inside the Department of Justice
(I've previously [9]revealed his insider connections with Alberto
Gonzales and George Bush) in order to shut down a DEA officer who is
brought serious charges against Sutton for [10]his complicity in
covering up torture and murder.
Several sources within the Department of Homeland Security, the
parent agency of ICE, confirmed that the informant Lalo was moved
around frequently after DEA was forced to evacuate its agents from
Juarez and the full extent of his â and the ICE agentsâ and U.S.
prosecutorâs â complicity in the murders became known to DEA.
âThey (the ICE agents and U.S. prosecutor Juanita Fielden) couldnât
get rid of him (Lalo), so they tried to control him, and they moved
him from place to place, to Albuquerque (N.M.) then to San Antonio
(Texas), so no one could talk to him,â one source says.
Then, the first hints of the informantâs role in the murders in
Juárez hit the media in the spring of 2004, and the cover-up went
into full swing, according to sources. The problem is that the
informant Lalo had leverage because of what he knew. He was
demanding more money, sources indicate.
Thatâs what allegedly led one of Laloâs ICE handlers, a high-level
supervisor in El Paso, sometime between March and June of 2004, to
put a payment through to him using a dead informantâs âsource
number,â which is a number assigned to all confidential sources in
order to keep their identity concealed.
Although it is not clear how much money was given to Lalo through
this means, sources indicate that it was discovered by someone at
ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C. The sources add that because
the payment required headquartersâ approval, the amount likely
exceeded $50,000.
âThe confidential informant (Lalo) said the government owed him
money,â one source says. âThey decided they better pay him or he
would start talking.â
According to law enforcement sources, a high-level ICE supervisor
in El Paso allegedly sent out the word to members of his staff that
no one was to cooperate with any investigation into the informantâs
role in the murders, or they would face discipline. Ironically,
that supervisor has since been promoted, sources indicate.
To date, no one directly involved in overseeing the informant has
been brought up on criminal charges, at least no such charges have
been publicly announced. One field agent has been put on
administrative leave, however. Law enforcers familiar with the case
believe that Hispanic agent, unless he has documentation to prove
otherwise, will likely be the only person set up to take the fall.
Any investigation into U.S. prosecutors in this matter, of course,
would have to go through Suttonâs office â absent the appointment
of a special prosecutor â or through the Department of Justiceâs
Office of Professional Responsibility, which is under the charge of
San Antonio native Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Given those realities, most law enforcers who spoke with Narco News
believe that, absent intervention by Congress, nearly everyone
involved will get a pass on the House of Death murders
âIf Sandy Gonzalez or I had done something like this, weâd be in
prison,â says a former high-ranking DEA official who asked to
remain anonymous. âWhen a U.S. attorney is incompetent, there are
no sanctions. You have the Department of Justice that is supposed
to control these U.S. Attorneys, but they donât when it comes down
to nut-cutting.â
As for Sandalio Gonzalez, he canât believe justice is being
sacrificed in this case, that some 15 murdered people are deemed
expendable for the sake of salvaging careers and promoting
political ambitions.
âIf someone in Congress is not willing to take a stand on this, the
nation as a whole loses some integrity in the process,â he
stresses. âThis isnât about national security, spies or
intelligence work, this is police work, right here. There are
bodies out there.â
All the details of the above case are presented[11] here. There is no
crime to vile - not drug smuggling, not torture, and not mass murder -
for U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton to overlook in order to further his
career. How many lives does he get to destroy with impunity before
he's held accountable? U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton is a despicable and
incredibly corrupt individual. And because of his long-held and close
ties with President George W. Bush, and U.S. Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales, and [12]other high-ranking Texas politicians in D.C., Johnny
Sutton gets a free pass for crimes that would put any other American
into prison for the rest of their lives! Who is paying Johnny Sutton
for his crimes?
_________________________________________________________________
This has been a production of the Guard the Borders syndicate. It was
started by [13]Euphoric Reality to educate the public about the
vulnerabilities of our open borders during an age of global terrorism
and the resultant threat to our national security and sovereignty. If
you are concerned about the lapses in our national security and the
socio-economic burden of unchecked illegal immigration, join our blog
syndicate. Send an email with your blog name and url to admin at
guardtheborders dot com.
([14]hide)
References
1. http://www.euphoricreality.com/
2. http://euphoricreality.com/2007/02/07/dhs-inspectors-admittedly-lied-to-congress-about-border-patrol-case/
3. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,248705,00.html
4. file://localhost/var/www/powerblogs/movermike/posts/1171337569.html
5. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=54134
6. http://www.dailybulletin.com/beyondborders/ci_5166248
7. http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_5200281
8. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20070202-124744-1388r.htm
9. http://euphoricreality.com/2007/01/22/guard-the-borders-blogburst-jan-22-07/
10. http://www.narconews.com/Issue38/article1374.html
11. http://www.narconews.com/Issue38/article1374.html
12. http://euphoricreality.com/2007/02/05/guard-the-borders-feb-05-07/
13. http://euphoricreality.com/
14. file://localhost/var/www/powerblogs/movermike/posts/1171337569.html
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