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
Aside from your exquisite legal argument, there is the matter of equitable treatment of "law breakers."
Supposing that Nethercott did commit a minor assault, first offense, extenuating circumstances...I am gonna say that if a mugger with no priors does this to an ordinary citizen on a city street, it gets plead down and the perp sees no active jail time.
But this man loses his ranch. World turned UPSIDE DOWN.
Like I said in my last post, there seems to be some holes in this story... like why he didn't appeal the decision.
The judgment came first, last year sometime I think. The land transfer is the result of the unpaid judgment.
We need more judges like the Judge on "Seinfield" where the sentence was to become the plaintiff's butler for a month ??? That would stop all these worthless law suits (no money involved)
"Occidental's investment in Gore has paid rich dividends. In late 1997 the Vice President championed the Administration's $3.65 billion sale to the company of the government's interest in the Elk Hills oilfield in Bakersfield, California, the largest privatization of federal property in US history."
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20000522/silverstein
Interesting hit piece by the Nation, no less....
Bushbot? Nice try, wrong target tho'
In a case such as this wouldn't they normally rule to sell the ranch and settle the judgement and then give the rancher the rest of the money????
I figure they did this article to pre-empt his run in '08.
No thank you. We like our lakes and our ice fishing, thank you very much!
In NY for example, a judgement attaches to a property, but usually cannot be foreclosed upon like a mortgage in a foreclosure action.
This case seems like he was cash poor and could not afford a defense in the civil case. In any event, its wrong. These invaders were trepassing on his property most likely at the time.
I got no respect for BO but this is his meat! There's nobody better at expressing outrage. Go for it.
This article doesn't say if these people were really invaders or immigrants. Hell, knowing it's a media peice, it's the former.
I knew Morris Dees had gone way off the deep end when he started to promote gay-is-good indoctrination.
He got a default judgment against him.
Basically did not show up, so of course you lose, no matter how stupid the lawsuit is.
It's a 70 acre ranch. I bet it's worth $35,000, tops, less any mortgage.
He's a felon.
I suspect he beat these people within an inch of their lives --- not acting in self-defense, defense of his property, or trying to restrain them until La Migra came.
Just beating them because they're illegal is not the proper response.
Usually a judgement attaches to the property, but not sold outright. If the the house is sold or transferred, usually the title company requires the judgement to be satisfied, not sooner.
It seems there is more here than meets the eye.
He was aquitted of the assault.
It's not even that he didn't appeal. He never bothered to respond to the suit itself.
Yep, imagine if you are the property owner and the only witness that can defend you is locked in prison out of state. That's why the property owners had to sign over the ranch. If there were any real Americans in Cochise County, they'd recall the Judge, who could have stayed the case in the interests of justice until the defense witness became available. (Or maybe he did, and higher powers intervened. Who knows?)
Quisling: a synonym for traitor, someone who collaborates with the invaders of his country.
I thought for sure after 9/11 we would get serious about this, not make it worse!
I just hope we don't get blasted again by people who are here illegally.
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