Posted on 01/31/2006 1:23:08 PM PST by Irontank
Two immigrants are now the legal owners of a Douglas-area ranch seized from an anti-immigrant activist. Documents granting the 70-acre ranch once owned by Casey Nethercott to Fatima del Socorro Leiva Medina and Edwin Alfredo Mancia Gonzales were signed by a Cochise County judge on Monday.
Nethercott is serving a five-year prison term in Texas stemming from a 2003 incident on a Texas ranch where he confronted Leiva and Mancia and was accused of pistol-whipping them. He was acquitted of assault but convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Nethercott was a member of the group Ranch Rescue, which works to protect private property along the southern U.S. border.
The Southern Poverty Law Center brought suit against Nethercott on behalf of the two immigrants. Nethercott did not respond and a Texas judge ordered him to pay $500,000.
Also named in the suit were Jack Foote, the founder of Ranch Rescue and the owners of the Texas ranch, Joe and Betty Sutton.
The Suttons settled for $100,000. Foote also didn't offer a defense and was ordered to pay $500,000. Leiva and Mancia were illegal immigrants from El Salvador. They received temporary legal status in the United States as crime victims and are seeking visas to stay longer.
They don't plan to hold on to the ranch, said Kelley Bruner, an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Instead the property will be sold, with the proceeds going to the immigrants
And this is justice in Amerika????? You gotta be kidding...
Swim the Rio, get a ranch. What a wonderfull idea!
Sarc/off
Thank you Jorge Bush.
I'm sorry. We never heard of this garbage under Cigar Boy.
Sure we heard about scandal, but the wholesale pillaging of our country?
WTF!!!!
I don't understand what the heck is going on with our Justice system.
Mr President and other GOP'ers. It's time to stop the insanity.
Just leaves me speechless that this could happen in this country.
Sick.
First they take our jobs. Now they take our land.
"I'm sorry. We never heard of this garbage under Cigar Boy.
Sure we heard about scandal, but the wholesale pillaging of our country?"
Oh, it was going on. It just wasn't chic at the time to listen to those of us who live on the border. Granted it has gotten worse on Pres. Bush's watch!
The objective from the beginning was to take away the property of an individual whose views on immigration differed from those of the SPLC.
Take note that this man was NEVER convicted of hurting the two Mexican in any way. And that these illegal aliens --people who had nothing and did not belong in the USA-- took possesion of his ranch.
FOR NOTHING.
I heard a legal expert expound about the details of the case on conservative talk radio in San Francisco.
Last time I checked, he names the people to empty court seats and it's the judges making these insane decisions not the President. Did he name the judge that allowed this to happen??
It took a number of paragraphs before the author made this distinction.
In any event, I think this is the real moral of the story: When you are sued, don't ignore it. You'll lose.
GWB and the GOP are wholly in favor of this.
AS far as I am concerned, GWB is Clinton without the cigar.
He never struck them. He was just guilty of being disliked by the SPLC for his membership in Ranch Rescue (I have nothing to do with Ranch Rescue).
Prolly got served at his house.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.