GOP Lawmakers Ask Mukasey for Unbiased Review of Border Agents Case

WASHINGTON — Forty-seven GOP House members urged attorney general-nominee Michael Mukasey on Tuesday, if he is confirmed, to conduct an "unbiased review" of the case of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting an unarmed man and trying to cover it up.

The agents — Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos — are serving more than 10 years in prison for wounding a Mexican drug dealer who had entered the United States illegally in a van with more than 700 pounds of marijuana. The drug dealer was given immunity to testify against the officers.

Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.; Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif.; Ted Poe, R-Texas; Louie Gohmert, R-Texas; and Walter Jones, R-N.C., held a press conference to release a letter to Mukasey, who is expected to be confirmed this week.

It says that the U.S. attorney in the case, Johnny Sutton of the Western District of Texas, is engaged in a pattern of "prosecutorial overreach targeting law enforcement officers."

"We request that you conduct a fair and unbiased review of this case and take any action to rectify this injustice," the lawmakers said.

The House members also said that the treatment of Ramos and Compean in prison was worse than the treatment of suspected terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, including that they are each "confined to a single cell for 23 hours a day." Lawmakers who signed the letter included Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo, who is running for president, and Georgia Rep. Phil Gingrey.

The case has become a cause celebre among conservatives and groups that advocate tougher border controls. Supporters say that the agents were wrongly convicted for protecting the United States against criminal intruders.

Many lawmakers have asked President Bush to commute the sentences, including Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas., and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

At a Senate hearing about the case in July, Sutton defended the prosecution, saying that the agents are "not heroes" and "deliberately shot an unarmed man in the back."

Bush has given no indication that he plans to pardon the agents or commute their sentences.

On the Web:

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas: www.usdoj.gov/usao/txw

Free Border Agents site: www.freeborderagents.com