January 19 was President George W. Bush’s last full day in office. Usually this is the “lame duck” period of the President’s term, but for Bush he decided to work. The last good action that Bush did was commuting the sentences of former Border Patrol agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean, who fired on a drug smuggler as he attempted to return to Mexico.

The men are in prison because the U.S. Attorney’s office prosecuted them for a civil rights violation, as well as using a firearm during a violent crime. Osvaldo Aldrete Davila, an admitted drug smuggler, was shot in the buttocks after fleeing an abandoned van with 750 pounds of marijuana as cargo. During the trials both border patrol agents claimed that Davila though to be armed and their action was in self defense, but this didn’t hold up in court. Davila is now in prison serving a nine year term because of a drug smuggling charges in 2008. Now he has a long time to actually think about what jumped up and bit him. Since this happened, in 2005, tbe agents have been serving their sentences in solitary confinement. Their expected release date is March 20th.