Once again I am going to post the entire story, it’s that important. Please read the entire post and then weigh in with your opinions and comments.
Critics Furious As Border Agent Diaz Gets Two Years in Prison
Despite numerous problems in the prosecution’s case, Border Patrol agent Jesus “Chito” Diaz was sentenced to two years in federal prison for convictions stemming from his supposedly rough treatment of an illegal immigrant caught smuggling drugs.
Critics and family members berated the decision — especially because of the legal precedent it establishes. It could have been much worse, however. And the battle is not over yet.
“Well I can’t say the sentence was good because this entire case is an injustice,” agent Diaz’ wife, Diana, who still works for the Border Patrol, told The New American. “It could have been worse, so I am glad that it is almost time for him to come home. Although the fight to clear his name has just begun, doing it together is much easier.”
Diaz was prosecuted by the Obama administration on charges of “civil rights” violations and allegedly lying to investigators. The Mexican government also filed an official complaint, claiming that the agent had pulled on the handcuffs of a young drug smuggler apprehended near the border.
But according to experts who reviewed the evidence, the whole prosecution was built on lies. “The government’s case is based on false testimony that is contradicted by the facts,” noted a statement from the Law Enforcement Officers Advocates Council (LEOAC), a non-profit organization that has taken up the Diaz family’s cause.
“The Mexican Consul claimed injuries to the drug smuggler’s ribs, and Diaz knee on his back. However, there were no marks on ribs, back, or on his wrists from the handcuffs whatsoever,” LEOAC President Andy Ramirez told The New American. “The sole marks on his body are the strap marks from the backpack due to the drug load.”
Among other problems with the case, LEOAC also noted that some of the “witnesses” admitted to perjuring themselves. Many of their claims were contradictory, too. And the agent standing next to Diaz testified that he did not see any of the alleged mistreatment.
Diaz’ story, on the other hand, was consistent from the beginning, LEOAC said. Plus, he had already been cleared of wrongdoing by the Office of Professional Responsibility and the Inspector General.
The court and the prosecutor went ahead with the case anyway. And pictures proving that the drug smuggler did not suffer any arrest-related injuries were sealed during the trial. After being granted immunity by the federal government, the illegal immigrant even admitted during the first trial that he had lied to the grand jury.
Despite all of that, following a mistrial, Diaz was convicted. And on October 20, he was sentenced to 24 months in prison. Incredibly, the judge even asked Diaz to apologize to the drug smuggler and his fellow officers.
“Like the true man he is, he just stood there and said nothing,” Diana recounted, noting that the judge arrived 30 minutes late to the sentencing hearing. “How can you apologize for doing your job?”
The time is expected to be especially tough for the former agent, largely because law-enforcement officers are routinely targeted by other inmates. Diaz also has six children at home.
“The kids don’t know anything about what has transpired, they think their dad is away working,” explained Diana, obviously upset. “To them their dad left a good guy, and that is what he is coming back as: A good guy.”
And the fight is far from finished. LEOAC and others have promised to keep working until Diaz obtains justice.
Heavy hitting lawmakers have also come to Diaz’ defense. U.S. Representative and GOP presidential hopeful Michelle Bachmann, for example, told a group of conservatives earlier this month that she would work to free the agent.
And LEOAC chief Ramirez is not giving up either. “We will continue to lead this fight and stand by Chito, Diana, and their children until his name is cleared,” he said. “Having worked on as many cases as we have, this one is, without question, the most atrocious yet. It is clear that our government gave Mexico City the scalp of yet another agent.”
Ramirez also noted that, while the sentence was light compared to what it could have been, “Agent Diaz is a hero and this case never should have gone forward.” The whole prosecution should be scrutinized and investigated, Ramirez said — the drug smugglers and the “witnesses” who perjured themselves should have been the ones facing charges.
“Where is the justice in this case? Once again, our government is far more concerned with the so-called rights of criminal illegal alien dopers than our agents who continue to be prosecuted for doing their job,” Ramirez concluded. “Congress needs to investigate this case and the pattern of misconduct and abuse that has resulted in an innocent agent going to prison yet again.”
Diana also pointed out that all agents should be concerned about the legal precedent established by her husband’s case. “I pray that everything gets reversed and that this case gets thrown out,” she noted. “This case law is detrimental to any and all law-enforcement officers. Just think how many times handcuffs are placed on an individual on any given day.”
The potential for lawmen to be charged with “civil rights” violations over alleged pain suffered while handcuffing a suspect is troubling. “All handcuffs hurt, that is what they are meant to do,” Diana said. “If they were meant not to hurt they would be made out of cotton.”
While Diaz could have faced another decade in prison, the fact that he did not get the toughest possible sentence offered little comfort to his friends, family, and supporters. But with more organizations, activists, lawmakers, and talk-radio hosts getting involved, there is still hope.
An appeal is currently being planned, and support for Diaz continues to grow. Even if the conviction is not overturned soon, however, he could be out in significantly less than two years with good behavior.
Related articles:
Jailed Border Agent Jesus Diaz Denied Bond; Family Speaks Out
Union Official Accused of “Sabotage” in Border Agent Case
Feds Prosecuted U.S. Border Agent for MexicoFull Story Here:
Critics Furious As Border Agent Diaz Gets Two Years in Prison
If the statements in this story are true, and I have no reason to believe they are not, I am of the opinion that Jesus “Chito” Diaz has been the victim of a GROSS miscarriage of what the Obama administration calls *JUSTICE*…
As most of my readers know, I have many friends and family members that are current or retired Law Enforcement people at ALL levels of the job. A decision like this only makes the job more difficult for them and their fellow officers.
The utter contempt that the Obama administration holds our Law Officers, and the laws of this nation in, is nothing less than a travesty and in MY opinion, the prosecution of this Agent is as horrendous as almost anything else the Obama administration is responsible for, think Fast and Furious.
I hope all of my readers will sound off on this one, but I particularly hope the LEOs on my list will offer their opinions, the public needs to hear what *The Good Guys* think!
Personally, I can see *motivational levels* among the officers falling to less than ZERO…
Might I suggest that even if Officer Diaz did everything they say he did and worse, it doesn’t come even 1/10th of a degree as unlawful as many/most of the things done by the Obama (mis)administration.
Fred,
You as you well know my ENTIRE family has been in LAW ENFORCEMENT, my dad for 44 years, me 27 years, my brother for 20 years and my son for 6 years. We have all served our community and our Country with pride. Giving back what we received, FREEDOM.
Law enforcement has changed, You are no longer allowed to do your job as you were trained without first looking over your shoulder. It is clear as a bell to me now. The Obama administration Is pro-illegal immigrant and against law enforcement.
Proven by the incarnation of this Border Patrol Agent this case never should have come to trial in the first place. However OBAMA and his SOB ATTORNEY GENERAL Erick Holder did nothing, sat on their hands and allowed this travesty to happen.
The guilty one is ERIC HOLDER he could have stopped this but he did not.
I wish I could comment more Fred, but I can not as you know the reason, so be the voice of these Agents who can not say a word for fear of losing their jobs or for that fact being arrested.
This pains me to say this but because of the what happened Agents will be in fear of doing their job thinking he may be arrested for touching a SCUM BAG DOPER WHO NOW knows how to beat the rap, just wait and see, there is more of this shit coming down the road.
Also agents will fearful patting down a SCUM BAG ILLEGAL ALIEN, for fear he might be accused of GROPING his private area. Rest assured it WILL HAPPEN AGAIN.
Agents will be killed for the same reason For FEAR OF BEING ACCUSED OF SOME BULLSHIT ALLEGATION the Agent might miss a weapon hidden on his body somewhere, then BANG ONE DEAD AGENT. IT WILL HAPPEN FRED, you know as well as I know it.
The OBAMA ADMINISTRATION SHOULD immediately patron the AGENT AND COMPLETELY CLEAR TBIS AGENT. However OBAMA will use this as an example to the SCUM BAG ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT that he is on their side.
I could say more, but I will blog a response at some point, again Fred I ask you as a true friend to all LEO’s stay on TOP of this injustice.
Thanks Old Buddy
Not long back two border patrol agents were railroaded and thrown into prison by the Bush Administration. Bush’s “good friend” Johnny Sutton prosecuted them, giving the drug runner immunity while he was still running drugs. It seems our government is doing all it can to thwart and demoralize the Border Patrol.
Jury must have been in “never never land” on this one…………or it was hand picked.
As a former police officer, I can tell you exactly what officers think when stuff like this happens. They no longer go out on a limb to protect the public. I can’t say I went through anything close to what this officer did, but I suppose I can relate with an incident that happened to me that landed me in hot water.
I was dispatched to a domestic where two brothers were fighting and knives were involved. I drove to the house and there were two brothers in the front yard going at it. Now typically, when dispatched to a domestic, I would get within a house or two and wait for backup before I would try to handle a domestic alone. I failed to do this on this occasion because by the time I got within that distance, everyone saw me and to be honest, I didn’t want them to just see me sitting there doing nothing while I waited for backup. Secondly, I genuinely did have concern for someone getting hurt and if I could save a life, that meant something to me.
Well, I pulled up, got out of my car, but kept my car between me and the guy with the knife and asked him to please drop the knife. I used a calm voice and words like “please” multiple times. I did not draw my weapon at this time but had my hand resting on it and ready. I was taught the 21 foot rule and maintained at least that.
Finally, the young man dropped the knife. What I did not know at the time, was that he actually had two knives and had palmed the second one. As I came around the car and got within a few feet of him, he flipped the second knife around and threatened me. This was no tiny pocket knife either, it as an 8″ blade large kitchen knife. I immediately drew my weapon and again, as calm as I could, I said please drop the knife several times, with no results. I finally said “drop the f*cking knife or I will f*cking kill you”. I did this because I felt that the pretty please language conveyed weakness and I wanted to convey to this thug in language he woud hopefully understand that if he did not do as I said, I would shoot him. The kid then started becoming enraged and kept coming towards me. At this point I could have lawfully shot him (and maybe I should have). However, two thoughts zoomed through my head. One was I don’t want to kill a young kid as he was 16 and I was not sure I wanted that on my conscience.
People say they would have pulled the trigger and slept like a baby and I was stupid to hestitate at the point. However, I too use to have that attitude and always thought if the situation presented itself to me I would have no problem killing someone. It’s tough talk until you actually find yourself in that position. The second thing to go through my mind was the IA (Internal Affairs) investigation that I would be put through if I did pull the trigger. I had seen what other officers had gone through after shooting someone and it’s not pretty. It’s months of being on leave and wondering what is going to happen with your entire life on the line and in the hands of investigators who were not there and did not have their lives on the line, all second guessing your decision to pull that trigger.
So, I immediatly holstered my weapon and went to pepper spray. I did not feel that this kid could overwhelm me and I felt that if he did try to stab me, I could subdue him without any harm to me or him. Had he not been a teenager, or had he been a lot bigger than me or more intense in his actions, I may have shot him. But he was small and seemed scared and confused. Even though I would have been justified in shooting him, I chose not to for the reasons above.
Well, in the end, it worked out well (for him) as I did not shoot him. He did come at me and I pepper sprayed him, took him to the ground and disarmed him.
What do I get for my trouble…a complaint by his family. He was black and I was white, so just imagine all of the racism I was accused of and all of the words they said I used, including the big N word. (I uttered no such words).
Five family members who were not even there all came in and said they witnessed me beating up of this poor youth and using language I did not use. Luckily, a neighbor who saw much of what happened (and was an elderly black gentleman) came forward and stated that he had lived in my city for several decades, had seen what real police violence and racism was, and was “no fan of the police”. However, he said he knew what the family was trying to do and came to my defense and said that I did not say any of the racial slurs or beat the kid as the family stated I did. He did say that I used the work “f*ck”, which I did admit to early on. I was eventually cleared of all the charged, but found guilty of using the word “f*ck” and reprimanded for that. Cops know that even their own department will screw them over if it helps avoid liability on the dept as a whole.
The entire time up until this point, I was treated by my own dept as if I was guilty and a horrible cop and it was almost as if they all believed the family and accused me of lying. After all, it was my lone word against five people. However, the neighbor’s testimony caused the IA dept to question the members even more and administer a polygraph. During the polygraph, the young man that had the knives broke down and started crying and admitted he lied to get me in trouble cause he was mad at me. The rest of the family went along with it in the hopes of a big lawsuit. All of which would have cost me my job, career and my reputation. Try getting a job as a cop anywhere after being accused of something like this. I wouldn’t have been able to get a job as a mall security in Moosenuts Montana if this charge stuck.
So, what did I learn from this experience? That every (and I mean every) domestic I was dispatched to, I would wait for backup. Not that I felt I needed extra help if the SHTF. I wanted a witness on my side. Family members, especially husbands and wives that hate each other will still join forces and gang up on the cop, either physically at the time of the call or later in a complaint. I wanted backup so that there was another cop present to tell exactly what happened if I was accused of wrongdoing again. I didn’t care if one person was going to kill another if I didn’t act immediately…I was going to wait for my backup. I have had people tell me I am wrong to have this attitude. That they would run in and and save someone’s life and be damned with the consequences to themselves and that a job is not worth someone’s life. That if they were fired but saved a life, it would have been worth it and that I was a jerk for thinking like I did.
Those that say this were never in my position. I am sure that only another cop can truly understand what I went through. Trying to get some guy who works safely in an office environment just can’t fully appreciate how a cop thinks and acts. Try telling the bill collector who is there to repossess your house or car because you are out of work and can’t get a job that you saved someone’s life at the expense of your ability to earn a living. Do you think they will care? I often think of the position I would have been in had not that neighbor come forward. What he did was quite rare and the chances of it happening again are zero. But for him, my life would have been devastated.
After that call, I never went into any dangerous calls alone…I waited for my backup. This sometimes added several minutes to the call response. But I was not going to jeopardize my livelihood and the welfare of my family for the sake of someone else ever again.
I know dozens and dozens of cops that had this “wakeup call” moment just as me and came to realize that you watch out for number one first and foremost. So many rookies want to save everyone and damn the consequences…until they realize that the consequence is their ass. Many cops have the attitude that they will go after the bad guys when society comes to it’s senses and lets them. But as long as we see cops getting jammed up in IA, lose their jobs over or go to jail, and see these large dollar lawsuits, we are not going to put our asses on the line until we know we are first protected. No more running into the fray to save a person’s life when that person may be the one that turns around and complains against you or sues you over what you did. A great example is the Pixar cartoon “The Incredibles”, where the superheroes quit saving people because society no longer appreciated what they did. The superheroes were held accountable for every single minor issue in the name of a big payout lawsuits. So, the superheroes quit saving people and had the attitude that it was no longer worth it.
I can tell you, cops see this and have changed the way they protect people. Better to take a report on a dead person than to intervene and save a life just to be tossed to the wolves and monday morning quarterbacked for every single little mistake. I am sure that border agents will no longer act the way they used to when they see a drug smuggler running across the border after seeing what happened to one of their own. They may deem it better to just pretend they didn’t see what happened. They may just let him go. They may say it’s just not worth it.
Now if a cop did something wrong (and I mean blatant violations of the law or rules they were taught), than they should have the book thrown at them. But regular citizens need to understand, this is not an easy job sometimes. It’s dangerous and difficult and trying to do the job 100% proper when someone pulls a knife or gun on you and tries to kill you, well, that’s pretty damn hard to do. You will be surprised just how much training goes out the window when the SHTF quickly and unexpectedly. The only way to ensure that the cop does his job properly is by lots of training and lots of time on the job, and even then, it’s still tough. Then there is that perfect balance of enough time on the job to be able to do it properly and safely, but not too much time where the cop becomes too jaded. Combine that with the fact that all cops are falable human beings…it can be a tough thing.
Anyway, without knowing all the facts of this particular case, I can’t judge what is right or not. Maybe this cop acted so horribly, that his sentence was just. On the face, it looks unfair, but I wasn’t there. The only thing I can say is that now the police officer in me tells me to go “by the book” and walk a straight line. Don’t be a hero. Do your job to the best of your ability and that’s it. If I can save someone’s life, I will, but not at the expense of my own self. I have a family and they come first.
Thanks for the insight into a life most of us will never know.
You would think that family would be grateful that you prevented one of their family members from harming another member. Unfortunately, money was more important to them than the life you might have saved.
I guess I’m pretty lucky. If I had been given 2 yrs in prison for everyone I handcuffed…I might be getting out by 2030…and that was back in the late 70’s.
I know they were hurting when I placed the cuffs on them. I never locked them down, so if ( or when ) they set back on them..the cuffs closed tighter.
I would not do good as a Police Officer now days…too many restrictions…and we even had way more than they did 10 yrs before my time.
This is simply disgraceful. To think that illegal aliens have constitutional rights yet the TSA can grope law abiding citizens in violation of the fourth amendment show exactly how backwards this country is becoming.
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