Posted on 05/13/2005 3:32:42 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Two years after a harrowing encounter between illegal immigrants and members of Ranch Rescue, the two immigrants are legal and two of the alleged vigilantes are behind bars.
Although neither side claimed total victory in a Jim Hogg County civil lawsuit over the incident, the 229th District Court handed down a $1.35 million default judgement in April against two former members of Ranch Rescue who were already in prison.
"We believe the suit has gone a long way in keeping these vigilantes out of South Texas," said Ricardo de Anda, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
A Texas chapter of Ranch Rescue - a national volunteer organization that strives to protect border ranch-land owners from "drug smugglers, criminal gang members, bandits, thugs, and international terrorists" who cross illegally, according to their Web site - encountered the two immigrants in March 2003 at Joseph Sutton's Jim Hogg County ranch where the organization had been called in to deter the constant flow of trespassers.
"The Ranch Rescue network stands ready to organize volunteers to come to the aid of private landowners when those landowners are ignored and marginalized by their own local, county, state, and federal law enforcement and elected representatives," said Ranch Rescue USA National spokesman Jack Wright in an e-mail.
The immigrants, Edwin Alfredo Mancia Gonzales and Fatima del Socorro Leiva Medina, had just crossed the border when they were detained on the Sutton ranch by armed men. They later said the men threatened to kill them and that one of the men, whom they later identified as Casey Nethercott, pistol-whipped Mancia Gonzales.
Nethercott was arrested on assault and other charges, but the assault charge was later dropped.
Joseph Sutton asked Ranch Rescue to patrol his land, where he and his wife would see up to 75 trespassers a day, said Sutton's attorney Ed Watt.
"[Sutton] knows 90 percent of people crossing are just looking for a better way of life," Watt said. But the elderly couple was concerned about armed coyotes and drug gangs and dissatisfied with Border Patrol service.
Although sympathetic to the difficulty of the Border Patrol's job, the Suttons got tired of Border Patrol failing to respond to their calls, Watt said. They viewed Ranch Rescue as a patriotic group that could help stem the trespassing problem, but they insist that they did not condone violence by the group.
According to court documents, Leiva Medina and Mancia Gonzalez crossed the border and paid a truck driver $200 to give them a ride. The driver dropped them off before reaching a Border Patrol checkpoint, and they began walking through a field in the dark.
After crossing a fence onto the Sutton ranch, the immigrants heard people coming and hid in brush. They were found by dogs and detained by three men, later identified by the immigrants as Nethercott, Jack Foote and Henry Mark Conner.
At that point, the immigrants charged, they were ordered to come out at gunpoint and Nethercott struck Mancia Gonzales. After a while, the two were released on a road and turned themselves in to Border Patrol agents.
Foote and Conner were not charged in the case, but Jim Hogg County prosecutors initially charged Nethercott with assault, unlawful detention and possession of an illegal weapon.
The assault and unlawful detention charges were dropped after a trial resulted in a hung jury, according to Nethercott's attorney Joseph Jacobson.
The weapons charge stuck, though, and Nethercott began serving a five-year sentence April 18 in a Texas prison.
Foote also is in prison, but in Arizona, on an unrelated weapons conviction.
Leiva Medina and Mancia Gonzales, with the aid of Laredo attorneys, the Mexican American Defense Fund and the Southern Poverty Law Center, filed a civil lawsuit over the alleged confrontation on June 26, 2003.
Ranch Rescue Texas and members Nethercott, Jack Foote and Henry Mark Conner were named as defendants in the suit. The Suttons also were named in the lawsuit.
In December, the Suttons chose to settle for $100,000 because it would have been more expensive to fight the suit, Ed Watt said.
The plaintiffs' attorneys dropped the suit against Conner, who they say was marginally involved, and the state organization, which dissolved after Nethercott and Foote were arrested and another member, not named in the lawsuit, was shot in a confrontation with federal agents.
Both Foote and Nethercott failed to answer the civil lawsuit. On April 19, the 229th district court awarded the plaintiffs $500,000 against Foote and $850,000 against Nethercott.
"[Nethercott] didn't have the money to make it worthwhile to defend the case," Jacobson said.
Attorneys for neither the plaintiffs nor the defense expect Leiva Medina and Mancia Gonzales to get very much money beyond the settlement with the Suttons, though.
Plaintiffs' attorneys are seeking to seize a piece of Arizona land owned by Nethercott. The land may fetch another $100,000 for the plaintiffs, de Anda said, but the defendants don't have much wealth.
De Anda and the other plaintiffs' attorneys helped Mancia Gonzales and Leiva Medina obtain work visas. Mancia Gonzales now works for a janitorial service in Los Angeles, and Leiva Medina works at a restaurant in Dallas.
The national Ranch Rescue organization, which was not a defendant in the lawsuit, continues to operate. They have provided private security to a wildlife preserve in Colorado and have another action planned in Arizona in spring and summer, national spokesman Wright said.
Neither Foote nor Nethercott is associated with Ranch Rescue any longer, he said.
(To reach Clay Reddick, call 728-2582 or e-mail clay@lmtonline.com)
Hmmm.. By this reason Al Capone and his ilk and, for that matter, any crook are really OK since what they are doing is JUST to get a better way of life. Yeah, that's it - I get it now /sarc
It appears that way, and it will get worse if Kennedy and Mc Cain, have their way...I think we should send all the illegals to Arizonia and
the Kennedy compound, this immigration ordeal is finally getting the attention it deserves
Texas Invasion Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
There is a well established legal immigration process. We should use it. There is no need to make stuff up on the fly. there are legitimate applicants who are lawfully waiting to get in; they should get preference over a slimbag who unlawfully hops over a fence.
No illegal alien should have standing to sue anyone about anything.
No illegal alien should have standing to sue anyone about anything.
Disgusting. What country am I living in?
ping
...At that point, the immigrants charged, they were ordered to come out at gunpoint and Nethercott struck Mancia Gonzales. After a while, the two were released on a road and turned themselves in to Border Patrol agents.
Foote and Conner were not charged in the case, but Jim Hogg County prosecutors initially charged Nethercott with assault, unlawful detention and possession of an illegal weapon.
The assault and unlawful detention charges were dropped after a trial resulted in a hung jury, according to Nethercott's attorney Joseph Jacobson.
The weapons charge stuck, though, and Nethercott began serving a five-year sentence April 18 in a Texas prison.
Foote also is in prison, but in Arizona, on an unrelated weapons conviction.
Do I have this right? Two illegals find a lawyer after they're turned over to Border Patrol (who should have sent them packing back to Mexico in the first place). They scream "assault" but can't convice a jury. Two of the characters that cornered the illegals on the ranch get convicted on weapons charges (gotta wonder about that) so just to frost the cake of injustice, a district court hands them 1.35 MILLION!
Judges make the law in America. Lots of laughs under the old sombrero tonight. This case provides the perfect example of why non-citizens should not have the rights of citizens and that includes the justice system.
I know a Korean couple who have tried to do everything legally and have had a lot of VISA trouble. Then I see these guys get all of these benefits for "hopping the fence." Something's not right about that.
This is bad. I hope the Minuteman project succeeds, with their strategy of "report, don't confront." Because thanks to this lawsuit, citizen's arrests are now out of the question. Absent success from the Minutemen, the outcome of Ranch Rescue suite might just inspire some to adopt "shoot, shovel, and shut up" tactics.
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.