No clemency for Justin Volpe

In his waning days in the Oval Office, George W. Bush rejected granting clemency to several high-profile felons. Ex-media mogul Conrad Black, former White House official "Scooter" Libby, and ex-Attorney General Alberto Gonzales were among those who came up empty-handed.

One of those whose clemency request was rejected was former New York City cop Justin Volpe. In 1999, Volpe was convicted to thirty years in jail over the police brutality case of Abner Louima. Louima had been on the receiving end of an ugly beating at the hand of several cops including being sodomized by a plunger.

A Gothamist post last month observed that, “family, friends, and a priest” pushed for a reduced sentence for Volpe. Ultimately (and thankfully) it was all for naught.

On Monday, Bush did commute the sentences of a pair of ex-Border Patrol agents who were convicted of shooting an unarmed Mexican drug smuggler and trying to cover it up. An editorial in yesterday’s Dallas Morning News had this to say over Bush’s decision:

Perhaps the commutation will end the undeserved celebrity status that had erupted around these two former agents. [ed. Just ask Glenn Beck]. Anti-immigration organizations have used them as poster boys to perpetuate a myth that they were in prison for doing their jobs while drug smugglers were allowed to go free.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Ramos and Compean committed felonies and were rightly brought to justice. Perhaps now the Obama administration can have a comprehensive immigration discussion without this distraction clouding the conversation.

Image- BBC News
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, BBC News, Dallas Morning News, Fox News, New York Times, MSNBC, Gothamist