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A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING GOVERNOR RICHARDSON TO ISSUE A STATE PARDON FOR

IGNACIO RAMOS AND JOSE ALONSO COMPEAN.

WHEREAS, two former United States border patrol agents,

Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, were each sentenced

last month to more than a decade in federal prison for

shooting a Mexican drug smuggler during the performance of

their duties as border patrol agents; and

WHEREAS, the agents said that they shot in self-defense,

and federal lawmakers have called for a congressional

investigation into the agents' prosecutions; and

WHEREAS, other developments in the case are that the

union representing most rank-and-file border patrol agents

established a legal defense fund for the agents, that

civilian border watch groups have asked the United States

attorney general's office to review the case and that there

will be appeals through the courts to throw out the guilty

verdicts against the agents;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the governor be requested to grant

the two border patrol agents a state pardon; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be

transmitted to the governor.