Bush commutes sentences of Border Guards.

[RogueNavy]

About damn time. Yes, they did wrong, but a simple disciplinary handled in-house would have been sufficient, in my book.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/19/bush.commute/index.html

[PhoenixCadet]

If anyone can explain the differences between a "pardon" and a "commutation", I would greatly appreciate it. Numerous Google searches on the differences return the same things, and they seem to be very similar, if not the same.

Thanks,
-PC

[fjer]

Pardon means the person is no longer guilty of the crime. Commutation is simply a reduced or eliminated sentence; the person is still considered guilty and bears all the other consequences (have to say they were found guilty of a felony on an application, ability to own guns is restricted, loss of voting rights, ect).

[RogueNavy]

I've no doubt they'll eventually get a full pardon. The bad thing is, until then, they'll still be subject to all the restrictions a real criminal is subject to.

[fjer]

I do hope they get the full pardon; there is no way (in my opinion) that those men deserved felony charges, if any at all.

[TheLegalShark]

I disagree with granting them a pardon, and am not too happy about the sentence commutation. Don't forget they did commit a crime. In my honest opinion, law enforcement officers and civil servants should be held to a much higher standard in the eyes of the law because we place great trust in them to enforce the law and to be stand up members of the community. When they violate that trust and break the very laws they swore to uphold they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Here the two officers shot an (unarmed) man and tried to cover it up. They were tried and convicted by a jury of their peers and their convictions were affirmed by the Circuit Court of Appeals.

[RogueNavy]

While I respect your opinion, and agree they did commit a crime, what was done to them by the "justice" system was unforgivable. Their punishment should have been minor, and handled in-house. The prosecutor got IMMUNITY for a KNOWN drug smuggler and illegal alien for his testimony against two otherwise honorable men. Their methods may have been incorrect, but their intent was pure...to protect this nation from illegal drugs. That filth, and the filth that carries, manufactures, and sells it to our children should have NO legal standing and no protection.

[HairyEyeball]

And what 'crime', other than having lousy aim, did they commit? And on what 'evidence' were they convicted: The testimony of the convicted drug smuggler they shot, who was, incidentally subsequently caught moving another shipment of drugs, and a 'fellow' Border Patrol agent, stationed 300 miles from the incident, who was related to the smuggler.

Further, according to BP SOP, the required verbal reports were filed with their superior. Insofar as there were no dead bodies littering our side of the border, no further report was necessary.

Oh, and you might want to explain precisely what you mean by:

I disagree with granting them a pardon, and am too happy about the sentence commutation

If there is any internal logic there, it eludes the parameters of the language.

[txb&b]

I'll contribute my $0.02 on this. As far as I'm concerned, the only crime committed was the trial itself when the prosecution deliberately withheld information about their drug smuggling key witness. This prosecution has a disturbing pattern for going after BP agents and making deals with the Mexican consulate.

At the very least, these two agents should have been granted a new trial with no evidence suppressed. Even though I'm relieved about the sentence commutation, I'm not especially happy about it. They should have received full pardons and it should have been done long before now.

[RogueNavy]

Yeah, it's pretty sad when our own people are sacrificed to make some other country happy. Some scummy drug smuggler got a free pass into the USA, probably got his room and board paid for while he was here, (and guess who got stuck with that bill?), and more than likely got compensation for his testimony...so good law enforcement officers could pay the price.