This case is from 2005 but the Deputy Sheriff (Guillermo F. Hernandez) is facing 10 years in prison.

From Jerry Seper of The Washington Times:

A Texas deputy sheriff who fired shots at a fleeing vehicle after the driver tried to run him down faces 10 years in prison for injuring one of the passengers, a Mexican national being smuggled illegally into the United States.

The U.S. attorney, who won lengthy prison terms last year for two U.S. Border Patrol agents in the shooting of a drug-smuggling suspect, also prosecuted Edwards County Deputy Sheriff Guillermo F. Hernandez, who is to be sentenced next month.

The deputy’s boss, Sheriff Donald G. Letsinger, said his officer — who had been on the job for a year — “followed the letter of the law” in defending himself in the April 2005 incident and questioned why the government brought charges.

We have the same US Attorney (Johnny Sutton) here as in the Ramos and Compean case.

U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, appointed in October 2001 by President Bush, said Hernandez fired shots at the vehicle as it sped away “knowing it was occupied with the nine individuals,” at least seven of whom were illegal aliens — some of whom later were called to testify for the government.

Hernandez was convicted after a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Del Rio, Texas, 75 miles southwest of Rocksprings — found guilty of violating “under the color of law” the civil rights of Maricela Rodriguez-Garcia, a Mexican national.

snip….Sheriff Letsinger said an investigation found that Hernandez approached the vehicle and found only the driver was sitting upright and suspected the others were illegal aliens. He said the driver, after being asked to step out of the vehicle, pulled forward and turned into Hernandez — fleeing from what the sheriff described as the deputy’s “legal stop.”

Thinking the driver had tried to run him over, he said Hernandez fired at the vehicle’s rear tires. He said at least one of the people inside the vehicle confirmed that the driver had turned it into the deputy.

snip….Sheriff Letsinger also said the Rangers and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents, using dogs and metal detectors, found four shell casings at the traffic stop site but none at the crash site — discounting claims by two of the vehicle’s occupants that Hernandez fired shots at them as they fled the vehicle.

snip…Noting that prosecutors offered the deputy probation in exchange for a guilty plea, the sheriff said, “This young man didn’t do anything wrong and wasn’t about to say he had. I think that speaks to his character.”

The inmates are indeed running the asylum with our southern border!

H/T Modern Tribalist

See also Our Border Patrol Bureaucracy is seriously broken

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email the coalition and let us know at what level you would like to participate.

Technorati Tags: Illegal aliens, immigration, Guillermo F. Hernandez, DHS