Senator Feinstein jumps into border agent case
The border agent case (background here and here) — which I am following because it highlights many of the problems inherent in mandatory minimum sentencing — continues to make headlines. Today, San Francisco Chronicle reports here on the involvement of a notable Democrat:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein intervened Friday in the cases of two Border Patrol agents who are imprisoned for shooting an alleged Mexican drug smuggler and who have become a cause celebre for anti-illegal immigration GOP politicians, conservative media and activists. The California Democrat, who is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote letters to three top administration officials — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff and Federal Bureau of Prisons Director Harley Lappin — asking for specific information about their agencies’ involvement in the case.
Feinstein is the first prominent Democrat to become involved in the case of the border agents, and her office said she has secured the agreement of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy to conduct a committee investigation. She said Leahy is open to a hearing on the matter….
Feinstein told Gonzales in her letter that she strongly believes the agents’ sentences are too extreme, given that the victim resisted arrest and was smuggling large quantities of drugs. Further, she wrote, the agents had to her knowledge no prior convictions or aggravating circumstances to warrant such long terms.
The U.S. attorney who prosecuted the case, Johnny Sutton, has maintained that Congress determined the penalty, setting a mandatory minimum 10-year sentence for discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Feinstein said she found it even more disturbing that Ramos was beaten in prison. “It is not hard to predict that two federal agents would be targeted in a prison population and that special precautions should have been employed to ensure their safety,” Feinstein wrote.
For reasons detailed in some of the posts below, I am very pleased an encouraged to see some Democratic senators showing interest in this cases as an example of over-punishment.