http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=122344One of the two former U.S. Border Patrol agents whose cases have been covered in hundreds of WND reports has confirmed he will seek a retrial to overturn his felony convictions.
The sentence for Ignacio Ramos – along with the sentence for fellow former agent Jose Compean – was commuted by President Bush as he was leaving the presidency.
The two border agents were convicted of various charges that stemmed from firing their service weapons at a fleeing drug smuggler, and they were given prison terms of more than a decade.
Ramos, who has relocated with his family from El Paso to the Houston area, told the Houston Chronicle he will seek the new verdict.
"I know I'm rolling the dice," Ramos said. "We don't go into it blind. We talk about it, and we both know the risks. And it's hard knowing what the possibility is. But it is important for me to be cleared."
While Bush commuted the prison sentences – releasing them for time served – a pardon was not granted, leaving the felony convictions on their records.
The original case stemmed from the Feb. 17, 2005, shooting of Oswaldo Aldrete-Davila. The two officers said they thought Aldrete-Davila was armed and made a threatening move.
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WND was among the first to report Aldrete-Davila then committed a second drug offense, smuggling a second load of 750 pounds of marijuana across the border while he was under immunity by federal prosecutor Johnny Sutton's office and in possession of a border-pass card authorized by the Department of Homeland Security.
WND also reported when Aldrete-Davila admitted to federal drug smuggling charges, was convicted and sentenced to federal prison for a 57 months.
Further, WND published an exclusive interview with Sutton in which he attempted to justify his office's decision to prosecute Ramos and Compean.
Subsequently, Sutton appeared on many national radio and television shows, attempting to convince the American public Ramos and Compean were "rogue cops" who shot after an unarmed fleeing Mexican who was only trying to surrender.
WND was also among the first to report Ramos and Compean were charged under the "wrong law," U.S.C. Section 924(c) that imposes a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence on a person using a weapon in the commission of a federal crime.
Aldrete-Davila was granted immunity for his drug smuggling by federal prosecutors in exchange for his testimony against the agents. He crossed the Rio Grande and picked up a marijuana-loaded vehicle near El Paso. After a car chase in which he fled from the officers, he abandoned the vehicle and ran back across the border on foot. He was shot in the buttocks as he ran.
Joseph Farah, editor of WND, launched a petition and letter-writing campaign in the latter days of the Bush administration, seeking support for the agents.
The petition collected more than 40,000 signatures by the time President Bush commuted the agents' sentences. The letter campaign produced more than 3,000 FedEx letters to the White House.
WND sent copies of some of the news stories and commentaries to the agents in prison. When Compean learned about the petition and FedEx campaign, he sent a letter to WND from the Federal Correctional Institution in Lisbon, Ohio.
"Although our case received attention before we reported to prison, I truly believed people would forget all about us," Compean wrote at the time. "Once we reported to prison, I was very happy to see how wrong I was. I have received thousands of letters from people all over the country. I have also received letters from other countries such as Italy and even a few from soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan."
Joe Loya, Ramos' father-in-law, also said at the time he was thankful for the in-depth coverage.
"We can only thank Joseph Farah, Jerome Corsi and the staff at WorldNetDaily because from the beginning you have been with us and you never gave up on the case," he said at the time of the commutation. "Your reporting had a lot to do with the decision today by President Bush to commute the sentences."
The Chronicle reported in the 11 months since Ramos was freed, he's moved from El Paso to Katy, Texas, obtained a job, and reassembled his life.
However, he said he still feels he's the victim of wrong.
"Even though there are people that believe in you, and there are people helping you, it's not easy to live with. It's very hard," he told the newspaper. "Because if you didn't know the story, ... if you just look at what's left on my record, you'd be like, 'Oh my God, I can't leave my kids around this guy, or I can't be around this guy. This guy is dangerous.'"
Characterizing Ramos and Compean's incarceration as a "political prosecution," Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, earlier called for a congressional investigation into alleged prosecutorial misconduct by Sutton under the direction of Bush administration Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
Poe also called for an investigation into the alleged role of the Mexican government in demanding that Ramos and Compean be prosecuted.
In the years leading up to the sentence commutations, WND published at least 228 news stories and 51 commentaries about the case.
The detailed coverage has continued since the first report Aug. 7, 2006.
The U.S. Supreme Court later declined to hear an appeal of the original case.
Topic: Ex-border agent Ramos seeking new trial (Read 1063 times)