Bush Commutes Sentences for Border Guards

A little late in the process and there should have been a full pardon, but I guess there's some small measure of justice here. The rockheads from AP say it's a pardon in the headline, but I guess expecting accuracy from them is a bit too much to ask.

President George W. Bush has commuted the prison sentences of two former Border Patrol guards whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer ignited debate about illegal immigration.

Bush's act of clemency on Monday for Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean was a victory for Democratic and Republican members of Congress and others who pleaded with the president to pardon the men or at least commute their sentences.

This miscarriage of justice never should have gotten to this point, but at least he did the right thing here to some extent.

Update: This version now notes the sentences were commuted.

Compean and Ramos, who have served about two years of their sentences, are expected to be released from prison within the next two months.

They were convicted of shooting admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila in the buttocks as he fled across the Rio Grande, away from an abandoned van load of marijuana. The border agents argued during their trials that they believed the smuggler was armed and that they shot him in self defense. The prosecutor in the case said there was no evidence linking the smuggler to the van of marijuana. The prosecutor also said the border agents didn't report the shooting and tampered with evidence by picking up several spent shell casings.

The agents were fired after their convictions on several charges, including assault with a dangerous weapon and with serious bodily injury, violation of civil rights and obstruction of justice. All their convictions, except obstruction of justice, were upheld on appeal.

With the new acts of clemency, Bush has granted a total of 189 pardons and 11 commutations.

More from Michelle Malkin and Hot Air.

Drug Dealer Shot By Border Agents Indicted

Story developing and more will be available tomorrow, but for now here's Sara A. Carter's account in the Washington Times.

A Mexican drug trafficker shot by two Border Patrol agents who later were convicted of the shooting was arraigned today on numerous drug smuggling charges in federal court in El Paso, Texas.

Osvaldo Aldrete Davila is charged with conspiring to possess and distribute hundreds of pounds of marijuana in the U.S. between June and November in 2005. He was arrested yesterday at an international port of entry in El Paso and appeared today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard Mesa.

Aldrete Davila, who admitted to smuggling drugs in a 2005 immunity deal in the prosecution of the Border Patrol agents' case, has been seen entering different hospitals in El Paso under federal escort since the Oct. 19 sentencing of the former agents, sources close to the case told The Washington Times.