Before W. Leaves Office, He Commutes The Sentence Of Border Patrol Shooters Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean

Who would’ve thought that in the last day of the Bush presidency, he would’ve hooked up two Latinos—Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean? Ramos and Compean, if you remember, were the two Border Patrol culiados that shot border jumper Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila in 2005, and tried to cover up the shooting by saying he had a gun. Errr. Wrong. He didn’t have a gun at the time when they caught him running toward the Rio Grande. The two were ultimately convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon, lying about the incident and violating Aldrete-Davila’s Fourth Amendment right against illegal search and seizure. Ramos and Compean were sentenced in 2006 to 11 and 12 years, which now will be over in a couple of months… not that it should make them feel any better according to the President’s office. No, what would make us feel better is that the guy we busted was actually caught in ‘07 trying to bring bringing more than 750 pounds of marijuana across the border.

“Commuting their sentences does not diminish the seriousness of their crimes. Ramos and Compean are convicted felons who violated their oaths to uphold the law and have been severely punished,” [a Bush] official stated.

A commutation reduces a convict’s prison term, but the conviction remains on the person’s record. A pardon, however, wipes the slate clean by erasing the record of the conviction.

As much as we feel these jerk-asses should stay in jail, we’re actually happy considering the options. Seriously, we could be talking about Bush pardoning Scooter Libby here. Well, not actually here, maybe on our Twitter feed.
Bush commutes sentences of former Border Patrol agents [CNN]
Image [Houston Chronicle]