On his last full day in office, President George Bush issued commutations for former U.S. Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean. These were notably commutations and not full pardons. He has not yet issued any pardons on the torture program. I will be discussing the possible investigation of war crimes under the Obama Administration tonight on Rachel Maddow’s show.
The commutations will end the jail time on March 20, 2009. Ramos is serving an 11-year prison sentence; Compean is serving a 12-year term. They were convicted of shooting and wounding Osvaldo Aldrete Dávila (who was unarmed) in El Paso County, Texas. After the shooting, the officers were accused disposing of shell casings, lying to their supervisors, and filing a false investigative report.
The White House issued a statement that made clear that this was mercy and not forgiveness for the crimes: “The president has reviewed the circumstances of this case as a whole and the conditions of confinement and believes the sentences they received are too harsh and that they, and their families, have suffered enough for their crimes . . Commuting their sentences does not diminish the seriousness of their crimes. Ramos and Compean are convicted felons who violated their oaths to uphold the law and have been severely punished.”
They will remain convicted felons and face the ongoing restrictions accorded that status in terms of gun ownership, employment etc.
There are no pardons for the unlawful programs. Bush may be counting on Obama and the Democrats in continuing to block any serious investigation. It would be better for his legacy to show that, while nothing stopped the Democrats from investigating, there was never any criminal investigation or charge for the torture program.
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I don’t know if anyone saw the above question posted by Jim. I am wondering the same thing. Could bush have issued the pardons secretly and put them in the vault to be brought out in case of emergency–ie prosecutorial backbone? Jim stated the question in detail, quoted above. I found some evidence on the web that this could happen but I wasn’t certain. There was a flurry of troll posts after Jim’s posing of the question.
Looks like we got that troll upgrade!
I found this from the 2003 NYT:
“Published: March 22, 2003
South Dakota governors have granted an untold number of pardons over the past two decades, with the state keeping the names secret under a 1983 law intended to give people a fresh start.
Over the past few months, as the cases have come to light, they have been the subject of talk shows, a bill in the Legislature to modify the law and a lawsuit by three people who were pardoned and are seeking to permanently prevent officials from releasing their names.
Under the law, once a pardon is granted, every document from arrest to conviction is sealed. The state will not release the number of pardons because of the lawsuit.
The most recently reported pardons came from Bill Janklow, who served two eight-year stretches as governor before leaving for Congress in January. The state had two other governors while Mr. Janklow was out of office, from 1987 to 1995.
Mr. Janklow, an outspoken Republican, signed the law himself, though he said last month that he did not know about the secrecy provision.
Mark Meierhenry, who was attorney general when the law was adopted, said it was meant to let people get their lives back after they had atoned for their mistakes.
The current attorney general has questioned whether the government has taken the seals too far, and the state prosecutors association has objected as well, saying that victims at the least need to know about pending pardons so they can present facts to the governor.
News organizations argue that such secrecy undermines a fundamental tenet of open government.
Most states do not seal pardons, and if they do, the person being pardoned usually has to request it, said Gail Hughes, executive secretary of the Association of Paroling Authorities International. ”There are those cases that need public scrutiny because they are a little shady, and I don’t know if these are or not,” Ms. Hughes said. ”But especially when the record is sealed, it raises the level of suspicion a little higher.”
Spurred by the uproar, state lawmakers passed a bill that would allow the names to remain sealed for only five years. The new governor, Mike Rounds, a Republican, said he had not decided whether to sign it.
Mr. Janklow, 63, defended his pardons and said he had no objection to removing the secrecy provision.
”If they want to make them public, I don’t care,” said Mr. Janklow, who maintains that he does not know how many pardons he issued. He simply considered them as they came across his desk, he says.
Few knew of the sealed pardons until January. Mr. Means, a Janklow friend who ran for a tribal presidency last fall, said Mr. Janklow pardoned him for a felony conviction for the riot. ”It seals my records, so I don’t even have to admit I have ever been in prison or committed a felony,” Mr. Means said.
The secretary of state, Chris Nelson, said in January that the records on pardoned cases were sealed because of the 1983 law. But a ruling by the attorney general, Larry Long, disagreed, saying the law did not protect pardons that the governor granted on his own, without consulting the parole board. Mr. Long said those pardons should become public.
Three of those pardoned went to court to object, saying Mr. Janklow had issued their pardons with the understanding that they would remain secret. They want the judge to seal their cases permanently.”
Vince,
I didn’t read through everything yet, sorry, but this question was on the Bio and I wondered if you or anyone else had an answer for it. The person who posted it is named Jim:
“QUESTION: Assuming the left was/is correct, what would’ve prevented GW secretly issuing pardons to anyone involved in the BUSH administration despicable/illegal activities. Given GW’s and Cheney’s use of secrecy, don’t we have to assume that GW would’ve classified the pardons in such a way so as to prevent the general public from knowing about the existence of the pardons? Especially since names of those performing the activities being pardoned are/were also “classified”?”
FFLEO and everyone, there is an unofficial searchable site for CRS Reports at opencrs.com.
V.T.
Thank you for that concise 9-page explanation of pardon powers.
Just as background, here is a copy of a recent CRS Report, An Overview if the Presidential Pardoning Power, January 7, 2009:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40128.pdf
Here here rafflaw! Trolls just don’t seem to understand that most progressives/liberals don’t like seeing our laws broken by ANYBODY. This includes Democrats. If a proper investigation into the miriad of Bush crimes happens to also bring down a few complicite Dems then so be it! Whatever it takes to clean out this rat’s nest.
The msnbc group get real active when pardons for torture are brought up. I agree with FFLEO that the pardon time frame is not over yet. I would expect some more pardons tomorrow morning before the inauguration. I hope Scooter isn’t one of them. I have a problem with this current commutation because if I had committed those crimes and had attempted to hide evidence, I would be doing more time than them. And they are government law enforcement officers who are supposed to be held to a higher standard. Typical Bush stuff. By the way MSNBC group, just because the three Dems that you state were informed of some of the torture techniques, they would have violated the law if they had blown the whistle on Bush and his cabal. There if s big difference between knowing about parts of the program and ordering and authorizing it. That being said, if they violated the law, they deserve the same fate as Bush and Cheney and others. I bet you guys are making your inauguration party plans tonight so I won’t hold you up any longer.
Same sentiment here: http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2009/01/good-for-president-bush-commutes-border.html
Oz:
“Your words make SO MUCH SENSE and you DON’T LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE A CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDER AT ALL. Everyone is VERY IMPRESSED by your ability to use the caps lock key. Please KEEP REPEATING YOURSELF because the more you do, the more CREDIBLE your words become.”
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Pearls before swine, but great work!
Msnbc employees union:
Your words make SO MUCH SENSE and you DON’T LOOK LIKE YOU HAVE A CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDER AT ALL. Everyone is VERY IMPRESSED by your ability to use the caps lock key. Please KEEP REPEATING YOURSELF because the more you do, the more CREDIBLE your words become.
President Bush bought INSURANCE from you wacky lefties by making sure EVERY DEMOCRAT PARTY CONGRESSIONAL LEADER WAS FULLY INFORMED OF HARSH INTERROGATION TECHNIQUES AND WHO IT WAS DONE ON!
That kind of bursts your bubble doesn’t it..you want to have a hearing where President Bush announces to a Press gathering that he welcomes the hearing and will be looking forward to Congressional leaders he NAMES coming forward as they are called to clarify exactly who knew what and when!
It is called INSURANCE and Bush bought a lot of it.
Sally, ‘dis one’s for YOU:
If Bush was to start pardoning anyone connected with so called “torture”…….
HE WOULD HAVE TO START WITH JAY ROCKEFELLER, NANCY PELOSI, AND EVERY OTHER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR & REPRESENTATIVE THAT HAD DIRECT KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THE US WAS DOING TO GET INFORMATION FROM DETAINEES!
You fools here don’t think beyond the end of your noses! Do you really REALLY think that Bush would be so dumb as to not realize that the wacko left would DEMAND a new administration “investigate” his crimes and WOULD NOT BY HIMSELF INSURANCE BY KEEPING EVERY DEMOCRATIC LEADER IN CONGRESS FULLY INFORMED AND IN THE LOOP!!!!
I’m with you Former Fed.
As for the MSNBC poster…I didn’t even read what you wrote/ranted about. I hate it when people type in all caps, it’s rude. What you have to say is probably not that important anyways.
If Bush was to start pardoning anyone connected with so called “torture”…….
HE WOULD HAVE TO START WITH JAY ROCKEFELLER, NANCY PELOSI, AND EVERY OTHER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR & REPRESENTATIVE THAT HAD DIRECT KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THE US WAS DOING TO GET INFORMATION FROM DETAINEES!
You fools here don’t think beyond the end of your noses! Do you really REALLY think that Bush would be so dumb as to not realize that the wacko left would DEMAND a new administration “investigate” his crimes and WOULD NOT BY HIMSELF INSURANCE BY KEEPING EVERY DEMOCRATIC LEADER IN CONGRESS FULLY INFORMED AND IN THE LOOP!!!!
LOL! If Bush was to start pardoning anyone connected with so called “torture”…….
HE WOULD HAVE TO START WITH JAY ROCKEFELLER, NANCY PELOSI, AND EVERY OTHER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR & REPRESENTATIVE THAT HAD DIRECT KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THE US WAS DOING TO GET INFORMATION FROM DETAINEES!
You fools here don’t think beyond the end of your noses! Do you really REALLY think that Bush would be so dumb as to not realize that the wacko left would DEMAND a new administration “investigate” his crimes and WOULD NOT BY HIMSELF INSURANCE BY KEEPING EVERY DEMOCRATIC LEADER IN CONGRESS FULLY INFORMED AND IN THE LOOP!!!!
LOL! If Bush was to start pardoning anyone connected with so called “torture”…….
HE WOULD HAVE TO START WITH JAY ROCKEFELLER, NANCY PELOSI, AND EVERY OTHER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR & REPRESENTATIVE THAT HAD DIRECT KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THE US WAS DOING TO GET INFORMATION FROM DETAINEES!
You fools here don’t think beyond the end of your noses! Do you really REALLY think that Bush would be so dumb as to not realize that the wacko left would DEMAND a new administration “investigate” his crimes and WOULD NOT BY HIMSELF INSURANCE BY KEEPING EVERY DEMOCRATIC LEADER IN CONGRESS FULLY INFORMED AND IN THE LOOP!!!!
LOL! If Bush was to start pardoning anyone connected with so called “torture”…….
HE WOULD HAVE TO START WITH JAY ROCKEFELLER, NANCY PELOSI, AND EVERY OTHER DEMOCRATIC SENATOR & REPRESENTATIVE THAT HAD DIRECT KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THE US WAS DOING TO GET INFORMATION FROM DETAINEES!
You fools here don’t think beyond the end of your noses! Do you really REALLY think that Bush would be so dumb as to not realize that the wacko left would DEMAND a new administration “investigate” his crimes and WOULD NOT BY HIMSELF INSURANCE BY KEEPING EVERY DEMOCRATIC LEADER IN CONGRESS FULLY INFORMED AND IN THE LOOP!!!!
They violated their oath … that’s huge. Nevertheless my hometown is under so much death over drugs!!! The illegals are taking over, their government is corrupt and ours doesn’t need any help in that area.
I’m really torn on this one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacio_Ramos
“After the shooting the officers disposed of their shell casings, made no further attempt to apprehend the suspect, lied to their supervisors, and filed a false investigative report”
[snip]
“Ramos and his partner were incarcerated January 17, 2007”
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They served 2 years? You’d think they would get more than that just for filing false reports? I don’t know.
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also this:
“According to Jerome Corsi, a conservative commentator, the prosecution was initiated at the behest of the Mexican government. This has since been found inaccurate and disproven.”
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I just included that because Corsi seems to lie about everything.
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Finally, Professor, I’m not sure I can forgive you for sending me off the the roguejew website. I need to go shower now.
I agree with these commutations. Since the early 1970s I have observed the Mexico/U.S. border turn from a peaceful place to a wasteland of drugs, crime, deaths, and an environmentally devastating and needless border wall.
The pardon day is not over yet for Bush. I sure want him to keep his practice tonight of going to bed early…