Renegade border agents belong in prison
by Pete Cunningham
*As printed August 8, 2007 in The Homer Index

Capital Hill is once again attempting to ravage what is left of the American justice system, and in the process getting me all sorts of worked up. Last week, Republican Senator Duncan Hunter ofCalifornia addressed Congress and eloquently stated that the conviction and sentencing of U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean was, “the most severe injustice he had ever seen.”

All these officers did to get 11 and 12 year prison sentences respectively was shoot a man in the back who had been identified as unarmed. They shot the man despite the fact he was running toward Mexico and away from the U.S. On top of that, several of their colleagues testified that the two officers violently screamed “hit him, hit him” repeatedly while firing toward the fleeing individual and ignored others’ requests for them to stop.

After hitting the man, they collected all their shell casings, had friends cover up remaining evidence and never reported the incident to their superiors. This despite the fact that a border patrol agent is required to report every shot he ever takes, including practice and warning rounds. Yeah Senator, sounds like the jury really railroaded these choir boys.

Let’s shine a different light on this situation. Let’s bring it into our town and see how we would feel about such reckless vigilantism. What if there was a kid in line at a baseball game, Johnny, who realizes he doesn’t have any cash while in line. Johnny sprints toward his car to get his money and catches the eye of a police officer. What would your reaction be if the officer determined that, despite Johnny not being a threat or acting illegally in any way, he decided to fire shots at Johnny or rough him up a bit and cuff him. That officer would be out of here faster than a 70 mph meatball right down the middle of the plate, right?

What if, after the officer abused his power and Johnny, he illegally searched through Johnny’s car and found a bag of pot. Would that change your opinion of what he had done previously? Would it make it any less wrong?

This brings us back to the border agents. After emptying their magazines, reloading, hitting the individual, firing some more, and then trying to make it look like the incident never happened, they looked through his car and found marijuana. Actually, they found a lot of marijuana – 750 pounds worth!

So the guy they had shot at was one of the bad guys. Actually, after investigating him, it turns out that he is one of the worst guys, and so agents Ramos and Compean are being heralded by some, like Hunter, as heroes.

The jury was able to ignore hindsight that revealed the “good guys” were indeed shooting at the “bad guys” and convicted the gentlemen for their actions, causing a divisive uproar among the senate, and the population.

The jury was able to do what we often forget is their job and that is to look at the situation at hand. They concluded that the officers shot at an individual who they had no idea was a drug dealer, but that they did know was not a threat, and that they had done so with the intent to injure, maybe even kill.

In a world where Lady Justice’s veil is very easily lifted by those powerful enough to try, and her scale tilted by the weight of money, it’s easy to forget that a judge and jury is supposed to look at the situation at hand. These renegade officers, attacked an individual, operated well outside the boundaries of their duty, and tried to cause bodily harm to someone who, at the time of the incident, was acting in a manner prototypical to a situation hundreds of border patrol officers face every day.

They ignored their training and the law, but will likely see a get out of jail free card come their way because their story struck a chord with someone rich and powerful enough to do something about it.

When they are reintroduced to society, and trust me, they will be, they’re unlikely to get jobs as border patrol agents again, but, if they choose to stay in law enforcement, would likely get a smaller job in the field. Perhaps a deputy in a small town. What if it was this town. What if you saw them guarding the gate at a Homer football game? Would that be justice? Would you feel safe?