Bush Commutes Sentence of 2 Border Agents
By micro99 at 20 January, 2009, 7:32 pm
In one of his last acts as president, George W. Bush commuted the sentences of two U.S. Border Patrol Agents who sparked an illegal immigration debate when they shot an unarmed Mexican man who was suspected of drug dealing in 2005.
In February 2005, Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos shot Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, who said he was unarmed at the time, in the buttocks when he attempted to smuggle more than 700 pounds of marijuana into Texas near El Paso.
The two agents were convicted of assault and violating the civil rights of Davila with each facing more than 10 years in prison. It also appeared that the two agents tried to cover up the event by picking up their shell casings and failing to report the event to their superiors.
Supporters for the agents said the punishment was too harsh and the two were just doing their job of keeping illegal immigrants out of the country.
President Bush commuted the sentence of the two, which will take effect in a few months, saying they had paid their price.
“[President Bush] believes that the length of the sentence and the conditions of their confinement were too harsh, they suffered enough for their crimes,” a White House official told Reuters.
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