This is really sad. The part about 3 jurors disagreeing is pathetic, probably grounds for a retrial. Only 75% (at most) of the jury actually found the defendants guilty. I hope President Bush pardons them (I am sure he will (well, quite)).

The obstruction of justice charge may have slight creedance... But the other charges are junk...

I hope that the agents aren't forced to spend that amount of time in jail for doing their jobs... and if the drug runner manages to sue the country... I can guarantee you I will do all I can to protest and spread awareness...

This is probably the bad news of January.

With the likes of Mike Nifong out there, it is becoming harder and harder to know who (if anyone) in government and law enforcement to trust.

That said, I've read Sutton's fact sheet and Patterico's analysis of the Fact Sheet v. Saunders' articles.

I do not know the facts of this case directly, but I can only assume that the Fact Sheet information would be a HUGE mistake if there is anything on it that is false. Look at what is happening to Nifong (let's hope it gets worse for him as a lesson to all over-zealous prosecutors).

I do believe that we need to "take the gloves off" when it comes to illegal immigration. We need to stop harrassing the Minutemen and we need to give our Border Control the authority to act to seal our border.

We do not need to offer violent men a position on the Border Patrol and we should not be giving pardons to men convicted of violating policy and shooting an unarmed man without due process. Not even Saddam Hussien would have deserved a bullet if he were unarmed and surrendering.

Am I the only one cynical enough to think that if the border agents did NOT pick up the shell casings, they would have been charged under some environmental law?

I actually sent an e-mail to the White House asking the President not to offer a pardon.

Not knowing all of the facts, I think that the appeals process should deal with this.

Let’s see if I understand this case. A drug dealer brings 700 friggin pounds of pot across the border, gets shot in the ass while trying to escape after being caught by our Border Agents and our guys are thrown into jail for over 10 years after our government gives the drug dealer immunity twice? Sounds fair to me…where do I sign up to be a Border Agent?

The mistake these guys made was in where they shot the drug smuggler. Had they fatally shot him in the head, they could have planted the appropriate evidence on him to ensure that their story would pass muster. We need better marksmanship training for our border patrol agents.

Seriously, the consequences of this go much further in that now armed druggies are coming into TX, AZ, and NM knowing that the border patrol is afraid to shoot back for fear of being arrested for shooting at the poor defenseless drug smugglers.

I don't see that the agents did only one thing wrong. They messed up and shot him and did not kill him. They should be pardoned and given medals. I mean not only was he smuggling drugs (which is illegal in in itself), but he was coming across the border illegally. I think that there should be a new law passed, cross illegally, get shot.

unlike Keith, I'm not interested in the "facts". The only facts that have any meaning to me are:
1) drug dealer
2) border patrol
3) illegal entry

illegal aliens have no rights. drug smugglers have no rights.

The true bad guys in this case are the lowlifes that gave this perp a getoutofjailfree card in exchange for "testifying." And we know that we can certainly consider that a drug smuggling border jumper would NEVER lie.

Vacate the decision, execute the drug smuggler, remove the citizenship status from the prosecutors and deport them to Mexico!

I agree with Pete as long as we kick 'em in their tiny little balls before we deport them!

This whole case stinks. These two men are being drawn and quartered for doing their friggin' jobs! No amount of contortionist justification of "the rule law" can convince me that this is a quantum step to the end of this nation. It's disgusting that a scumbag drug dealer is given carte blanche to continue his business. The jury is (bleeped), the judge is (bleeped), the White house is (bleeped), and if things don't change the United States is (bleeped)!

"Right now, I'm more interested in finding out who was giving immunity to the drug smuggler and firing those people."

do you mean firing or firing on?

p.s. Darth Pelosi sends cupcakes.

Yeah, the whole sanitizing the scene and not reporting it just doesn't sit well with me. If my guess as to why is correct (they didn't want to have to deal with the hassle of a report and investigation, and figured the guy would just disappear anyway) then I think they screwed up and should be fired, but jail time is ridiculous.

As for shooting at him, it is really hard to judge what happened in a situation like that with adrenaline pumping and a suspect fleeing. Just because a dude is running away doesn’t mean he’s not shooting back trying to slow you down, not to mention that 1) innocent people don't usually flee from border agents 2) criminals often have guns. Frank does make an excellent point, however. Just jumping on bandwagons with reckless abandon and disregard for any examination of the facts/circumstances is a key ingredient in liberalism.

The doctor who removed the bullet testified that the smuggler was running and pointing back with his left arm. An overzelous prosecution led the jury astray convincing them otherwise. Whatever happened to "beyond a reasonable doubt"?

"Davila claimed that he was shot in the back as he fled back to Mexico. The U.S. Army doctor who removed the bullet fragment from the smuggler's right groin disagreed. Although he was testifying as a government witness, he told the truth and stated, "The smuggler was not shot from behind". "He was in a running position, (bladed position) and pointing back with his left arm and hand when the bullet hit his left side of his left buttock and traveled to his right groin. The prosecution then suggested that he may have been shot as he was running across and not away from agent Ramos. The doctor disagreed and so he was quickly dismissed by the prosecution. "

I agree that that there is definatelly a case for appeal and probably a mistrial and that this is the way our system sorts these things out, but the fact that the judge refused to allow the two to await appeal outside of prison (where they could likey be severely injured) when there are such obvious grounds for appeal leads me to wonder if some part of this was meant to make an "example" of these two.

"Sanitizing?"

I was taught to always police my brass.

I agree Frank. Though I am sympathetic to the agents, I think there is probably more to this than we know so far, whether that is enough to make the outrage unjustified (or partially so) or not. and I too am disturbed by the recent trend of some on the right getting as loony as (well, not AS, that would take some miles to go and cliffs to drive over, but you understand) the left.

I think the slogan needs to be "You mess with the border, we shoot you in the butt, let you keep your drugs, put those that protect our country in jail, and if you decide to sue give you their house(different story) and pay you millions for pain and suffering."
The law should read - If you are injured of killed while committing a felony - too bad - HAHAHAHAHAHA. Go to jail - go directly to jail - do not pass go - do not collect your drugs.

I'm sorry, but I still believe in the old "innocent until proven guilty" thing. Call me crazy.

If we allow Border Patrol agents to shoot first and ask questions later, what's to prevent other Law Enforcement Agents from getting the same idea?

Personally, I think this is one case where we need to remember that Law Enforcement is not Judge, Jury and Executioner.

Sure, the guy was a scumbag. But I can pretty much guarantee that each of us is a scumbag in someone's eyes. Do you want to risk that the next overzealous guy with a badge and a gun doesn't like YOU?

The thing I don't get is I keep reading that Davila was not arrested for the drugs he smuggled into the US because there was nothing to tie him to the van. WTF? So the bullet in his ass that forensics tied to Ramos's gun somehow is inapplicable in tying Davila to the scene of the drug smuggling crime? There's definatelly something fishy here, but without my conspiracy theory hat on I can't logically go anywhere with it. I guess we'll have to just wait and see how it plays out.