The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has affirmed the convictions against Border Patrol Agents Ramos and Compean for counts 1 through 5 and counts 11 and 12. The Court reversed and vacated counts 6 through 12 because the court determined the Border Patrol investigation was not an "official proceeding" within the meaning of the Statute.
I am shocked by this prosecution and decision and truly question my faith in the criminal justice system and my career in law enforcement. I know there are a few people, including Chief Aguilar and those who put their career before their honor, who argue Agents Ramos and Compean shot an unarmed and fleeing suspect in the back and failed to report the shooting. However, even if there was substantial evidence to prove none of the agents on scene verbally reported the shooting to the supervisors on scene and none of the supervisors on scene were aware of the shooting, I am confident the U.S. Attorney’s Office still would have prosecuted this case for several reasons, a few of which are cited below:
1. They made their entire case with the testimony of a career drug smuggler who illegally entered the United States and subsequently fled to Mexico to avoid capture;
2. They intentionally mislead the jury to believe the drug smuggler was not armed by irrationally arguing that no weapon was found (why would it be found if it was in Mexico);
3. They coerced and intimidated other Border Patrol Agents to testify against Agents Ramos and Compean by threatening them with prosecution (those same agents were later terminated by the Border Patrol for changing their stories);
4. They willingly mislead the jury by preventing pertinent facts about the smuggler’s career from being admitted into evidence;
5. They charged Agents Ramos and Compean with a law that was never intended to be used against law enforcement officers.
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