Pardon & Clemency

The Washington Post reports here on President Bush’s commutation, to time served, of the sentences handed out to former Border Patrol Agents Jose Compean and Ignacio Ramos. The two were convicted of shooting an unarmed illegal immigrant in the buttocks as he fled. They later attempted to cover-up their actions. They had each served 26 months on sentences of 12 years for Compean and 11 for Ramos. DOJ had not completed its own analysis of whether a pardon or commutation was appropriate in the case. Bush apparently considered the guilty verdicts just, but the sentences too harsh. That could be said of thousands of people currently serving federal prison terms. But Compean and Ramos had the backing of many prominent conservatives as well as the anti-immigration lobby. The Post article also notes the extremely low number of traditional, low-profile pardon and clemency applications, applications which go through a rigorous and time-consuming process, that were acted upon by Bush.