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creator of the News letter "For Your Eyes Only" – written by Investigative
Reporter Michael Webster, who has been developing sources around the world
for the last 35 years. For more Click here: Michael Webster's Other
Writings.
By Michael Webster Investigative Reporter
Nov 30, 2007 12:00 PM PST
Robert Holguin, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent,
testified that three men had identified Aldrete as a habitual drug smuggler.
He said, 'That the day Osvaldo Aldrete Davila was shot in the buttocks
while running back to Mexico in 2005 was not the last time he was chased by
the Border Patrol and not the last time he delivered drugs in the United
States that year.
Two men only referred to as "Source 2," a drug smuggler, and "Source 3,"
a friend not allegedly involved in drug smuggling. According to DEA
investigators they told them that Aldrete tried, unsuccessfully, to smuggle
marijuana on Sept. 24, 2005, and again, successfully, on Oct. 22, 2005.
Agent Holguin said during a bond hearing for Aldrete on Thursday "that
Davila's friend stated that Davila stated he was a transporter for a
smuggling ring."
Aldrete's lawyer, Ruben Hernandez, said he wanted to add documentary
evidence to the file. Hernandez did not say what the evidence was. U.S.
District Judge Richard P. Mesa postponed his decision for a few weeks as a
result.
Aldrete testified for the U.S. attorney's office in the case against El
Paso Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, the two
agents who shot him Feb. 17, 2005. Ramos and Compean were convicted of
violating Aldrete's civil rights and of tampering with evidence because they
did not report the shooting and because Compean picked up his shell casings.
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Aldrete, an alleged
Juárez Cartel mule and suspected informant for the government
who had been seen allegedly by U.S. Border Patrol driving a van loaded with
marijuana near the river levee and as they tried to pull him over headed
he's van toward the river before he started running, Aldrete, was shot as he
crossed the river. Later U.S. Assistant Attorney Johnny Sutton offered
immunity for his testimony to shore up his case against veteran El Paso
Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean. The U.S.
Attorneys office claims the immunity covered only his activities during the
Feb. 17 incident. However he was also given permission to cross into the
United States to meet with prosecutors, testify and get medical attention
before and during the 2006 trial. Apparently according to law enforcement he
did more than that he continued to transport drugs into the United States
and for at least part of the time he was enjoying U.S. Government immunity.
According to the defendant's case the shooting left him with a severed
urethra, and Aldrete had been urinating through a plastic tube sticking out
of his bellybutton and connected to a plastic bag he carried with him.
Although according to Agent Holguin's sworn testimony, Aldrete continued
to smuggle drugs, despite his medical condition and his deal with the U.S.
government.
Source 2 described how he and Aldrete allegedly worked together Oct. 22,
2005, to bring in 750 pounds of marijuana. In Holguin's words, Source 2 was
a lookout, using a two-way radio to coordinate the meeting of backpackers
carrying the drugs across the river and Aldrete picking up the loads in a
van on the U.S. side.
According to court, law enforcement and other records indicate Aldrete
allegedly drove that load in a 1990 Chevrolet Astro to the Clint trailer of
Cipriano Ortiz, whose house was subsequently raided by the DEA. Ortiz, who
pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges, identified Aldrete as the man who
delivered the drugs.
DEA agent Holguin testified that source 3, a friend of Aldrete's in the
United States, described to the authorities at least one previous smuggling
instance. Which he says that on Sept. 24, 2005, Aldrete allegedly stopped by
his friend's house in a white Ford Econoline and took out the rear seats,
saying he needed to make room for a load of drugs he was going to pick up.
Further more later that day, Aldrete allegedly called his friend.
"He said everything had gone bad," Holguin said. The Border Patrol had
chased him, and he had fled on foot to Mexico.
The van, abandoned in an orchard, was seized by the Border Patrol.
Inside, agents found 1,029 pounds of marijuana. Holguin testified that the
DEA was able to tie that smuggling attempt to Aldrete only this year.
Holguin also said the friend's mother gave DEA agents the registration
and title for the van, which she said Aldrete gave her.
In cross-examination, Hernandez, Aldrete's lawyer, questioned the
strength of the government's evidence against his client.
"In essence, what you have is individuals telling you something,"
Hernandez said.
"That's correct," Holguin said.
That's all you have is hear say, Hernandez said.
Inocenta Montoya, a Fabens woman who said she was a cousin of Aldrete's
wife, testified on his behalf, saying she was willing to let him stay at her
house if he was given bond. But prosecutors said Aldrete was a flight risk
because he has no ties to the United States and should be denied bond.
Holguin testified that Aldrete did not surrender when he was arrested
Nov. 15 at the Zaragoza Bridge but had to be lured.
"It was a ruse. He was told he was going to receive a border crossing
card or something to that effect," he said.
Hernandez said that the same investigator for Homeland Security Office of
Inspector General who had been Aldrete's handler during the Ramos-Compean
prosecution called Aldrete and said, "Meet me at the bridge. We'll help you
with medical attention." Hernandez also said Aldrete was in the United
States for a doctor visit Nov. 6 but did not offer more details.
In a previous interview in Mexico, Aldrete had said he was desperate to
get his urinary bag changed and hoped he could one day get an operation to
repair his urethra, but did not have the money to do either.
More than two weeks after the incident, Christopher
Sanchez, an investigator with the
Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, received
a call from a Border Patrol agent in Wilcox, Ariz. The agent's mother-in-law
had received a call from Aldrete-Davila's mother in Mexico telling her that
her son had been wounded in the buttocks in the shooting.
Sanchez followed up with a call of his own to the
smuggler in Mexico.
In a move that still confuses Ramos and Compean, the
U.S. government filed charges against them after giving full immunity to
Aldrete-Davila and paying for his medical treatment at U.S. Army hospital
William Beaumont in El Paso.
In a recent petition to
remove U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton (
Grassfire.org has an online petition calls on Bush to pardon the agents,
with more than 130,000 signatures..
The petition said, U.
S. Attorney Johnny Sutton has chosen to prosecute two U. S. Border Patrol
agents for attempting to stop a drug runner, in which a law forbidding use
of a firearm in the commission of a felony was wrongfully applied, resulting
in excessive prison terms and more recently, this same U. S. Attorney has
undertaken the federal prosecution of a TX deputy sheriff for wounding an
illegal while attempting to shoot out the tires of a vehicle attempting to
run him over. In both cases, Mr. Sutton has chosen to take
the word of illegal's over the word of sworn law enforcement officers
engaged in the performance of their duties. It has since come to
light through Congressional hearings that the federal government lied in the
prosecution of the Border Patrol agents (no prove was offered).
The Petition States: This citizen petition calls for the
recall of Johnny Sutton, the present U. S. Attorney for the Western District
of Texas, since he is not representing the best interests of our nation.
Rep.
Dana Rohrabacher, R, Calif. recently noted publicly that the
president already has received a letter about the case from more than 50
Congress members, is asking Americans to sign petitions and send e-mails and
letters to the White House requesting a "Christmas pardon."
"This is the greatest miscarriage of justice that
I've seen in my career," Rohrabacher said. "Two brave Border Patrol agents
trying to enforce the president's nonsensical border policy ending up being
sent to prison, while an illegal alien drug smuggler is given immunity and
walks free."
Compean's sister, of Huntington Beach, lives in
Rohrabacher's Southern California district.
Washington Times reporter Sara Carter
appearing on the Glenn Beck Radio Show live from the 5th Circuit
Court in New Orleans, Louisiana reporting from the courtroom, Sara Carter
said: "Mr. Sutton was at the court. He sat in the courtroom as a spectator.
It was tense."
"Judges (of the appellate court) were
visibly perplexed about why the government prosecuted these agents," Sara
Carter said. The appellate legal counsel for the agents "tore Sutton apart",
according to Sara Carter.
Three judges asked questions intensely.
It was very animated. The judges' challenges to government were very strong
One of the judges said he thinks there
was an overreaction [by the federal prosecutor's office that charged the
agents].
Based on the line of questionings, Sara
Carter thought the appellate proceedings went really well.
The judges challenged the immunity
agreement, the heart of the case, which federal prosecutor Johnny Sutton
gave to the illegal alien drug dealer in exchange for his questionable
testimony against the Border Patrol agents. The type of immunity was called
into question by the appellate court - as this limited the
questioning ability of the defense attorneys for Agents Ramos and Compean.
This revelation appeared to bother the judges, according to Sara Carter.
Carter said when the judges hit the
gavel, Sutton "slithered out of the courtroom."
The appellate court judges can take up
to 60 days to rule on the case.
U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton just after oral argument
before the U.S. Court Of Appeals in the Ramos and
Compean case said, “This case has always been about the
rule of law. Some in the media and on the Internet have
tried to portray Agents Compean and Ramos as heroes but
that narrative is false. The actions of
Compean and Ramos in shooting an unarmed, fleeing
suspect, destroying evidence, and engaging
in a cover-up, are serious crimes.
They were
prosecuted to uphold the rule of law. A jury rejected
their factual claims of innocence
after a two week trial. The case is now before the Court
of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which
will resolve the disputed legal issues in accordance
with the rule of law. I look forward to the
decision of the Court of Appeals.”
Jim Gilchrist, Founder and President of the Minuteman
project said "Americans,
while our system of jurisprudence may seem awkward,
lethargic, and cumbersome, the Minuteman Project feels
the system will eventually exonerate what we feel has
been the wrongful arrest, trial and conviction of U.S.
Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean.
The Minuteman
Project continues to urge our congress and our courts to
provide for compensatory damages to these Border Patrol
agents in an amount of no less than five million dollars
($5,000,000) each, in reparations for the severe
financial and emotional damages sustained by the agents
and their families.
Concurrently, the
Minuteman Project urges a complete and thorough
investigation into federal prosecutor Johnny Sutton's
office to determine whether his office has deliberately
carried out a "witch hunt" against other members of law
enforcement in similar prior cases. That investigation
should also include an inquiry of all investigators and
so-called informants involved in those cases.
If we are to be a
nation governed under the rule of law, then our laws
should be applied universally to include members of our
judiciary system who might have abused the same "rule of
law" concept they are supposedly trying to promote. In
other words, if Johnny Sutton's office proves to be a
"dirty" office of the federal prosecutor, then all
involved should be appropriately charged and harshly
punished under the rule of law."
The Executive Committee of the National
Border Patrol Council was also in New
Orleans, attending the U.S. Fifth
Circuit Court of Appeals hearing on
behalf of Border Patrol Agents Ignacio
Ramos and Jose Compean.
According to Committee members "The
appellate judges had a firm grasp on the
facts of the case, and displayed obvious
disdain for the way the government has
handled the matter. One of the judges
remarked that the government had
overreacted in the prosecution of the
two agents. The judge further stated
that it appeared to him that if the
agents had reported the shooting there
would have been no prosecution, and it
appears the case “got out of hand.”
Much of the debate centered on the
appropriateness of the ten year
mandatory sentence for using a firearm
in the commission of a crime. The
government argued it is warranted to
apply the charge and sentence, even if a
police officer is accused of excessive
force on a suspect and merely displays
the firearm.
The government admitted that its star
witness, Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, lied on
the witness stand."
