RAMOS AND COMPEAN CHRONOLOGY
By The Associated Press
The following is achronology in the case of former Border Patrol agents Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos. Theirlengthy prison sentences for shooting a fleeing drug smuggler were commuted by President George W. Bush Monday.
February 2005: Compean and Ramos shoot Aldrete during a chase in which agents suspect they have come upon a drug transaction. Aldrete is shot in the rear as he flees to Mexico. Investigators said both agents covered up evidence linking them to the shooting.
March 2006: Compean and Ramos are convicted on several counts of assault, weapons offenses, obstruction of justice and a civil rights offense. Border Patrol officials say both agents will be fired.
October 2006: Compean is sentenced to 12 years in federal prison, Ramos to 11 years and one day.
February 2007: Ramos’ relatives and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado say Ramos was beaten in prison after his case was described in an episode of “America’s Most Wanted.”
July 2007: The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing regarding the convictions. Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas says the shooting’s cover-up was inexcusable but that the president should review their “excessive” sentences. The U.S. House votes to block the Bureau of Prisons from holding Compean and Ramos.
November 2007: Aldrete is charged with smuggling marijuana in separate incidents several months after the shooting.
April 2008: Aldrete pleads guilty to two counts of possession with the intent to distribute a controlled substance, and one count each of conspiracy to import a controlled substance and conspiracy to possess a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
July 2008: The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans upholds most of the convictions, but the ruling forces resentencing hearings.
August 2008: Aldrete is sentenced to 9 years in federal prison on the drug smuggling charges.
November 2008: Compean and Ramos are formally resentenced to their original federal prison terms.
January 2009: Bush commutes the sentences, days after all but three of the 34 Texans in Congress sent Bush a signed letter asking for leniency.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
