Patterico's Pontifications

11/22/2007

Ramos-Compean Update: The Circumstances of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila’s Arrest

Filed under: Immigration — DRJ @ 12:40 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, the drug smuggler shot by Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos, was arrested recently at a US-Mexico border checkpoint in El Paso. His cousin claims US agents lured him to the US with promises of money. Money can be so enticing.

— DRJ

34 Responses to “Ramos-Compean Update: The Circumstances of Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila’s Arrest”

  1. Will the U.S. Attorney ask to recuse himself?

    “Just as Aldrete’s alleged illegal conduct did not excuse the crimes committed by Compean and Ramos, likewise, their crimes will not excuse his.” – Johnny Sutton, U.S. Attorney

    steve (81e1c9)

  2. The mere fact that he would believe that he was getting more money from the U.S. makes a huge statement about how the Mexican people see the U.S. as one big pinata full of cash.

    gahrie (5ae14f)

  3. Sutton has no reason to excuse himself. Witnesses get prosecuted for their own crimes all the time.

    wls (a6fede)

  4. Too funny. US Attorney Johnny Sutton is so bogus, illegal immigrants believe he is literally handing out money for Christmas presents. Not only do illegal aliens not fear US Attorney Johnny Sutton, they believe he is on their side. Yet more Team Texas “heck of a job” crap.

    Wesson (fd354d)

  5. Wesson, how do you get to that ridiculous point from the story?

    SPQR (26be8b)

  6. Wesson, how do you get to that ridiculous point from the story?

    MAGIC!

    Paul (36cd46)

  7. You got me, Paul, I forgot about Magic.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  8. When I was a very young prosecutor, I had an old family friend who had been a trial judge for 5 years, and later an appellate judge for 15 years, tell me that in all his judicial experience with criminal law, he had come to the conclusion that there were really on two types of crimes — misdemeanor stupidity and felony stupidity.

    Trust me, if criminals weren’t so dumb not nearly so many would get caught.

    wls (a6fede)

  9. 5

    Wesson is exactly right about what the family’s claim implies. I don’t believe the claim though.

    It’s absurd to imagine these two meeting on a busy bridge to have a money exchange. Sanchez would have just went to the Mexican side to hand over money.

    This was early Thursday morning on the 15th. C.Sanchez would have been due in court at 9 AM since he is the investigator in the Margarita Crispin case. Davila looked like he was dressed for court. I still think that was the premise for Davila coming in, that he was supposed to be a witness. Davila probably understands the predicament his friends are in now and will play along on the belief that they’ll be able to dismiss his case soon since he’s got the goods on the Bush Team and is even in a position where he can lie ( “they made me say I didn’t have a gun” ) and bring down the government. It’s mind boggling that this case hasn’t been taken out of Sutton’s hands yet, at least that we know of.

    I’m not finding Davila’s case file on PACER. They are stalling as they scramble to construct their sham investigation story.

    j curtis (8bcca6)

  10. Sutton has no reason to excuse himself.

    A timely indictment of Aldrete-Davila might have destroyed Sutton’s case against the agents. Convicted drug runners make disreputable star witnesses, I gather. Why did Sutton wait until ten days before the agents have their 5th Circuit appeal heard (December 3rd)? Sutton accuses Aldrete-Davila of smuggling drugs at a time he was given a free pass to enter the U.S. as a cooperating witness. If Sutton indicted to make fewer enemies while his own actions are under review, another office should run the case.

    steve (f8c5a5)

  11. j curtis, your’s is just another conspiracy story without evidence.

    steve, then why did Sutton indict Aldrete-Davila before the 5th Circuit date? Your theory does not hold together at all.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  12. Sutton is worried about Sutton. He may believe the appeals court will free the agents and can curb public backlash trying an indicted drug dealer whom he later can charge with perjury.

    steve (f8c5a5)

  13. You may be right, Steve.

    I think the timing of the indictment is interesting but not necessarily suspicious. It’s almost certain OAD’s second drug load is covered in the sealed testimony that is part of the Fifth Circuit appeal. The prosecutors probably expect questions at oral argument regarding the government’s investigation. Everything to this point is sealed but it won’t stay that way forever.

    DRJ (973069)

  14. WLS is right. Prosecutors use criminals as witnesses against other criminals all the time. As the police use criminals as informants against other criminals. My complaint about this case is the use of an enemy of the people of the United States against the defenders of the people of the United States. A far too legalistic and, to me, insensate, use of prosecutorial discretion.

    nk (09a321)

  15. Steve — he indicted Davila when he had the evidence to indict Davila.

    You don’t know what that evidence is and neither do I. You don’t know if critical evidence was only recently available.

    And, you cannot impeach a witness with an indictment, only a conviction. The jury heard everything about Davila that it was legally entitled to hear under the Rules of Evidence.

    The jury knew the agents shot a drug trafficker.

    They also heard that the agents didn’t know he was a drug trafficker when they shot him, and they didn’t have justification for using deadly force when they did.

    None of that would have been changed by an indictment of Davila prior to the Compean/Ramos trial. The defense attorneys would not have been allowed to ask Davila questions about it.

    wls (a6fede)

  16. They also heard that the agents didn’t know he was a drug trafficker

    Irrelevant to the matter of what the agents did after the trafficker pulled the gun out of his pocket.

    Davila’s van was left at the Ortiz house. Let me repeat that — DAVILA’S VAN was left at the Ortiz house. That is a smoking gun. Try not to forget that as you try to argue Sutton’s “under investigation” alibi.

    j curtis (8bcca6)

  17. It is not a “smoking gun” except in your mind, j curtis, it does not prove what you think it does.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  18. jay curtis:

    I was driving Davila’s van on the night in question.

    Now you have as much proof that I drove the van as you have that Davila drove the van — no proof.

    wls (a6fede)

  19. SPQR – Good grief. Please go back and listen to Sutton’s bizarre performances on radio and TV relating to this case, then President Bush’s bizarre defense of Sutton.

    Sutton’s team chose a truly strange strategy to convict the border agents. Now Sutton is stuck with the fallout of defending (oh wait, of NOT defending) the witnesses who routinely walk back and forth across the border with tons of drugs.

    US Attorney Johnny Sutton. Team Texas.

    Wesson (fd354d)

  20. Wesson, you seem really confused. I don’t think and I doubt that Sutton thinks that it is his job to “defend” witnesses. You also seem to think that the witnesses were drug dealers somehow means that any crimes that Ramos / Compean may have committed against them in the use of excessive force then vanish.

    I’m not happy that the Border Patrol is not allowed to use deadly force to stop illegal crossings of our border, but I don’t get my way and neither do you. That desire does not overturn the conviction of those men for the shooting. The law does not work that way.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  21. Is it likely that, in another U.S. Attorney’s jurisdiction, these agents’ transgressions would have been handled administratively? I take it this was argued before the jury to little effect.

    Sutton is facing unending, intense public pressure. He gains immediate image points reaching across the Rio Grande just as the agents hit the headlines again. Nifong indicted in haste and Sutton in delay, and conceivably both are exhibitionists. I hope Aldrete-Davlia’s jury is relentlessly undistracted.

    steve (f8c5a5)

  22. I was driving Davila’s van on the night in question.

    Now you have as much proof that I drove the van as you have that Davila drove the van — no proof.

    Comment by wls

    “when someone crosses at a border crossing, evidence is generated to show who they were, when they crossed, and what vehicle they were in”

    Do you remember that quote? The quote was yours.

    I don’t think they’d even be able to find a Hollywood scriptwriter who could come up with twist you are looking for.

    j curtis (8bcca6)

  23. Very difficult or maybe impossible to fix stupid.

    Tregg Wright (8cb5a9)

  24. j curtis — it may very well be that there is evidence that Davila was the driver when the van crossed the border.

    As I said above, you don’t know what the evidence is, and neither do I.

    But, a van loaded with drugs usually looks for a crossing point that is not manned by Customs.

    And, there is no way to know whether the van had MJ in it when it crossed the border because it wasn’t searched at the border.

    These are all the kinds of questions that prosecutors and agents have to ask and answer before they can file a case. Your default answer in every instance is “Davila did it” — well, that nice, but that ain’t evidence.

    What happens in a courtroom is that witnesses get on the witness stand and they tell things to the jury. Generally, that involves things the witnesses actually did or saw, not what they heard about someone else.

    So, right now you have “Davila’s van” (how we know that I’m not sure) at the stash house, and we MIGHT have border crossing info showing Davila was driving that van at some point prior to it being found at the stash house, and we have Ortiz’s testimony.

    Now, there better be more than that or Davila is walking.

    Since Sutton got the indictment, I suspect there is much more than that.

    Neither your nor I know what it is.

    wls (183969)

  25. Ah, “The devil (America) made me do it” defense!

    Patricia (f56a97)

  26. The AUSA who has been assigned to prosecute Davila is named “John Michael Gibson”. I looked for more information on this guy and he doesn’t exist on the googlesphere except for this Davila case and one other case. The other case, and they leave out the middle name in this reference, was a prosecution from this year:

    http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw/press_releases/2007/Marquez_Diana_sen.pdf

    This case will tie into that one. This “Juarez-based drug trafficking organization” is said to have used “stash houses”.

    When they finally unseal Cipriano Ortiz’s plea bargain, he will be said to have fingered the folks convicted in this case. They will likely try to say that Davila also helped them with this prosecution. They will say that Davila was brought into custody in fear that his life was in danger because of the information that is soon to made public. The bad Sutton critics will be said to have forced their hand and perhaps even blamed with causing further investigation into the cartel to be terminated.

    Something like that. How they plan to justify withholding Davila’s criminal deeds from the Ramos and Compean jury is still anyone’s guess.

    j curtis (8bcca6)

  27. j curtis, do you have anything beyond your imagination in that comment?

    As for “justifying” withholding Davila’s deeds, that’s been repeatedly explained to you but you insist on ignoring those explanations.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  28. 27

    I’m filling in the blanks. People try to fill in blanks all the time for fun and some even do it professionally. Why do blanks exist in this matter? I don’t know why you continue to feel the need to remind me that hypotheses aren’t facts. Hey, maybe none of my hypotheses will pan out, maybe some will. You are amusing me though, and that is always appreciated. So angry because I’m trying to fill in the blanks, lol.

    j curtis (8bcca6)

  29. j curtis, my concern is that you seem to have difficulty separating out your fantasy from that which is factually supported.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  30. separating out your fantasy from that which is factually supported.

    How do you know that my hypotheses aren’t factually supported by the sealed evidence?

    j curtis (8bcca6)

  31. Just so everyone knows, Davila was not lured back with the promise of Christmas money as alleged by the “family” member who is obviously looking for sympathy for him. The Washington Times reported on Tuesday, according to law enforcement sources, he was lured back with a promise from DHS-OIG Investigator Chris Sanchez to renew his I-94 border crossing card..now that makes more sense.

    As far as the significance of the arrest relating to Sutton’s veracity. If any of you have actually seen the border cards given to Davila, you would know that he was issued 6 of these parole documents. Including a 90 day pass issued the same day the indictment claims Davila started his drug activity with Ortiz-Hernandez (June 1,2005). Davila was also issued ANOTHER I-94 on Oct 27, 2005, 4 days AFTER the infamous October load that wasn’t permitted into trial. So Sutton’s office knew damn well this guy was smuggling drugs while already under immunity for the Feb. 17, 2005 and they let him take the stand and claim he had “no idea what was in the back of the van” and he “has no idea how drugs are packaged.” Clearly a lie.

    Since there was ample discussion back and forth during the trial about the type of immunity agreement Davila was actually given, the line of questioning permitted or not permitted is one of the grounds for the appeal. The lead prosecutor Debra Kanof even admitted after being pressed by the judge to explain what the hell type of immunity agreement was actually given, she said “well, its a weird kinda hybrid immunity.” That quote can be found in the trial transcripts. What the HELL is a “weird kinda hybrid” immunity??? And why did the idiot trial judge accept that answer?

    Sutton told the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 17th, after being grilled by Sen. Cornyn and Feinstein, that Davila’s border card was “obviously pulled once criminal activity was alleged.” But that isn’t true because once copies of the cards went public, it showed he’d been issued at least two more. After getting busted on that, Sutton claimed to the Houston Chronicle that Davila was then escorted by Federal agents but that made no sense because why were the cards still issued with Multiple Entry stamps on them? He then told Laura Ingraham on her radio show that the cards were made out “but never physically given to Davila.” C’mon, which story is it Mr. Sutton?

    After being asked 6 times by the Senators if it was a bad idea to issue unconditional border cards to a known drug smuggler, why didn’t Sutton just fully explain then that Davila was in fact escorted and the cards were filled out but not given to him? Because at the time of Senate hearing, Sutton believed those border cards would never see the light of day because they were protected under the Privacy Act, according to official correspondence from the DHS and DOJ when repeated requests from Congress were made for copies of the cards.

    Rep. Rohrabacher’s office obtained a copy of them by complete accident because someone from the CBP accidentally faxed copies of the cards to comply with congressional inquiries. How does Sutton explain himself?? He’s curiously been silent since the Davila arrest.

    GOP Princess (3134e2)

  32. j curtis, supporting your fantasy on the basis of another fantasy that evidence exists in sealed affidavits/testimony – that’s what we used to call a “self-eating watermelon”.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  33. #31

    What the HELL is a “weird kinda hybrid” immunity???

    One they could adjust as circumstances warranted? They added to it during the trial, according to Ramos’ lawyer Stillinger, and the judge allowed it.

    I was just reading that page of the transcript and thinking about the case and some other things that may have come from it. Other prosecutions that the pursuit of Davila may have lead to. A cell phone that we haven’t been told much about for instance. It may end up that the actions of Compean and Ramos lead to more prosecutions such as those I referenced earlier in this thread.

    j curtis (8bcca6)

  34. Johnny sutton is lying STILL over this case.
    Does anyone in the US government know what the damn truth it??

    Free these guys immeadiately and prosecute Sutton and his el paso office, lead by Kanof.
    Look into the judge and her stong objections to anyhting the defense wanted and siding wit hthe US attorny office on almost everyhting important, including this second offense. which as we know now, is FIVE times, including the one in february where he was shot. There is another run in June, one on september 22 and then in october on the 22nd and 25th.

    The arrest was made because someone was supposedly going to the washington times and sara carter and spill the beans that Davila had bee nspotted in el paso, and in the local hospital getting treatments on his euretha that was supposedly shattered by the bullet…. Which no one ever concluded came from Ramos. even the person who did the ballistics could NOT be 100 percent sure as he said it could have come from FOUR different types of guns. one which happened to be the same kind of gun the agents carry.

    james (c36902)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0925 secs.