The American People Deserve An Investigation of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/64089

The American People Deserve An Investigation of U.S. Attorney Johnny
Sutton
Dave Gibson




June 06, 2008
Though he is sworn to protect the American people, U.S. Attorney
Johnny Sutton has been operating more as an agent for George Bush and
the corrupt Mexican government, than as an advocate for the American
people. Since taking office, Sutton has been persecuting American law
enforcement officers when they dare to defend our border or block the
path of drug smugglers. It could be easily argued that Sutton´s actions
through his position as a U.S. Attorney, are contributing to the growing
violence being perpetrated by drug gangs on both sides of the border.

Johnny Sutton first caught the eye of George W. Bush in the early
1980's. At the time, Sutton was playing baseball for the NCAA National
Champion Texas Longhorns and Bush was enjoying his role as a shareholder
in the Texas Rangers organization, after his father had purchased him a
share of the team. The two became fast friends and began a relationship
that has benefited both men ever since.

Before being nominated by President Bush as U.S. Attorney for the
Western District of Texas in 2001, Sutton Served as a Policy Coordinator
for the Bush-Cheney Transition Team, as well as the Criminal Justice
Policy Director for Gov. Bush from 1995-2000.

Since becoming U.S. Attorney, Sutton has ruined the lives of several
diligent and dedicated law enforcement officers who were working to
defend our country from terrorists, illegal aliens, and drug smugglers.
The following is a list of those brave men:

Border Patrol Agent Gary Brugman was charged by Sutton with violating
the rights of an illegal alien in January 2001. The following year he
was convicted and spent two years in federal prison.

Agent Brugman was working in the very tough border region of Eagle
Pass, Texas. He responded to a scene where another agent was having
trouble with a group of 10-12 apprehended people caught crossing our
border illegally. Two of them would not comply, so Agent Brugman pushed
one of the men onto the ground. This minor incident was enough for
Sutton to charge Brugman with violating the illegal alien's
constitutional rights "under the color of law." During Brugman's trial,
Sutton actually brought a convicted drug smuggler whom Agent Brugman had
arrested from his prison cell to testify against him.

Incredibly, Johnny Sutton did an interview on the Spanish language
network Univision in which he stated he was making an example out of
Agent Brugman.

In addition to his service as a Border Patrol agent, Brugman is a
Coast Guard veteran. He spent 16 years of his life defending this
nation. He is now free and actively telling his story in hopes that
justice will soon come to Johnny Sutton.

U.S. Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean are
now serving 11 and 12 year federal prison sentences respectively. Sutton
charged these two men with assault with a deadly weapon, various
firearms charges, and with violating a drug smuggler's civil rights.

In February 2005, Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean spotted
a van headed across the border into the United States. The agents gave
chase and one of them ended up in a scuffle with a Mexican drug smuggler
known as Osbaldo Aldrete-Davilla. One of the agents saw a gun in the
smuggler's hand and fired at him, before Aldrete-Davilla fled back
across the border into Mexico. The smuggler was shot in the buttocks and
was observed jumping into an awaiting vehicle on the Mexican side of the
border.

The van driven by the smuggler was left behind along with 743 pounds
of marijuana. A few months later, he was caught once again smuggling
drugs into this country. While in custody, he was given immunity from
prosecution in both cases in exchange for his testimony against Agents
Ramos and Compean. In addition to immunity, the taxpayers assisted him
with travel expenses and provided him with medical treatment at a U.S.
Army facility in Texas. Once Aldrete-Davilla testified and completed his
medical treatments, he promptly filed a $5 million lawsuit against the
U.S. Border Patrol for violating his rights.

Sutton's office has received a great deal of criticism for his
treatment and unfair prosecution of these two agents, and Rep. Duncan
Hunter (R-CA) has led a movement in Congress to pardon these two men.
Though President Bush promised a review of this case, Ramos and Compean
still languish in prison and Bush has never mentioned the case again.



Deputy Gilmer Hernandez made a routine traffic stop in April 2005,
little did he know that this incident would lead to the loss of his
freedom. It turned out that the driver was a human smuggler with several
Mexican nationals hiding in the vehicle. After being approached, the
driver hit the gas and tried to run over Dep. Hernandez. The deputy
fired his weapon at the tires of the van at which time a bullet fragment
hit a woman who was hiding in the back of the vehicle, her injuries were
limited to a scratch on the cheek. Another person in the van received a
similar injury.

The shooting was investigated by the Edwards County Sheriff's
Department, The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, as well as the
Texas Department of Public Safety. All of the agencies deemed the action
taken by Deputy Hernandez as justifiable. However, more than a year
later, Sutton reopened the case and prosecuted Deputy Hernandez for
violating the civil rights of the two injured illegal aliens. Hernandez
served a one year sentence in a federal prison.

Border Patrol Agent Noe Aleman and his wife adopted his wife's nieces
from Mexico, after the girls' father died. The couple paid $40,000 in
legal fees to adopt the girls ages 12, 13, and 15. Despite the steep
fees, the attorney they hired was apparently incompetent and made
several errors on the adoption and immigration forms. Agent Aleman
himself pointed out these errors to immigration authorities and
attempted to correct them. For his honesty, Agent Aleman was arrested
and prosecuted by Sutton's office for alien smuggling. He received a one
year sentence and was incarcerated in the same prison where Agent Ramos
is being held.

Noe Aleman served with the Border Patrol for 12 years and is highly
respected for his aggressive pursuits of illegal aliens and drug
smugglers alike. However, in an effort to defame Agent Aleman, Johnny
Sutton even suggested that the real purpose for the adoption was so that
Aleman could molest the little girls, who during the grand jury hearing
were referred to by Sutton's assistant as "little whores!"

In 2007, Aleman told Jerome Coursi of WorldNetDaily: "I'm just another
victim in George Bush, Alberto Gonzalez, and Johnny Sutton's was against
Border Patrol agents."

The three girls were sent to an orphanage in Mexico, after being deported.

There is evidence in two of these cases that the Mexican government
became directly involved and influenced Sutton's office to prosecute the
officers.

On March 4, 2005, the U.S. Consulate in Mexico contacted Sutton's
office with information given by the Mexican government that they had a
drug smuggler who had been shot by a Border Patrol Agent. The Department
of Homeland Security began their investigation of Agents Ramos and
Compean the very same day!

On April 18, 2005, Mexican Consul Jorge Ernesto Espejel Montes sent a
letter to Sutton's office demanding that Deputy Gilmer Hernandez be
prosecuted for injuring Maricela Rodriguez Garcia (the woman whose cheek
was scratched while hiding in the smuggler's van). It was not until
Sutton received this letter that his investigation of Dep. Hernandez began.

It would appear that U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton receives his orders
from the corrupt government of Mexico, as does President Bush. The pair
have not only punished several law enforcement officers for their
efforts to protect this nation, but they have betrayed the American
people as well.

Johnny Sutton's Western Texas District comprises over 660 miles of the
U.S.-Mexican border. You can rest assured that every Mexican drug cartel
knows that stretch of border to be the safest way to bring their drugs
into the U.S.

Mexico has been steadily devolving into a narco-state, where even the
highest levels of government are controlled by the drug cartels. Those
same cartels have a powerful ally in U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton.
Unfortunately, this most unholy alliance leaves both the good people of
Mexico as well as the United States vulnerable to crime and unimaginable
violence.

If the next administration to occupy the White House is truly about
stamping-out government corruption and changing the culture of
Washington, they will direct the Justice Department to open an
investigation of U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton.