Posted on 02/18/2009 11:03:58 AM PST by CrystalD
TUCSON, Ariz. — A federal jury found Tuesday that a southern Arizona rancher didn't violate the civil rights of a group of illegal immigrants who said he detained them at gunpoint in 2004.
The eight-member civil jury also found Roger Barnett wasn't liable on claims of battery and false imprisonment.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
The eight-member civil jury also found Roger Barnett wasn't liable on claims of battery and false imprisonment.
But the jury did find him liable on four claims of assault and four claims of infliction of emotional distress and ordered Barnett to pay $77,804 in damages — $60,000 of which were punitive.
Barnett declined to comment afterward, but one of his attorneys, David Hardy, said the plaintiffs lost on the bulk of their claims and that Barnett has a good basis for appeal on the two counts on which he lost.
"They won a fraction of the damages they were seeking," Hardy said.
All six plaintiffs are citizens of Mexico, five of whom are living in the United States with visa applications pending, and the sixth resides in Mexico but was allowed into the U.S. for the trial, said Nina Perales, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. She declined to say where in the U.S. they're residing.
Perales called the outcome "a resounding victory that sends a message that vigilante violence against immigrants will not be tolerated."
David Urias, attorney for the plaintiffs, said, "Obviously we are disappointed with some aspects of the verdict. But I think that overall this was a victory for the plaintiffs."
For years, Arizona has been the busiest point along the Mexican border for illegal immigrants entering the United States.
For more than a decade, Barnett has been a controversial figure in southern Arizona. He's known for aggressively patrolling his ranch property and along highways and roads in the area, often with his wife and brothers, on the lookout for illegal immigrants.
The plaintiffs alleged that Barnett threatened them with his dog and told them he would shoot anyone who tried to escape.
Barnett's lawyers argued that his land was inundated with illegal immigrants who left trash on his property, damaged his water supply and harmed his cattle.
Barnett's wife and a brother were dismissed as defendants; in addition, 10 more people initially named as plaintiffs were dropped from the proceedings.
Barnett has been known to wear a holstered 9-mm pistol on his hip and upon coming across groups of migrants, to flash a blue and gold badge resembling that of the highway patrol, with the wording "Barnett Ranch Patrol. Cochise County. State of Arizona."
The Barnetts detain and turn over those whom they encounter to the U.S. Border Patrol. In 2006, Barnett estimated that he had detained more than 10,000 illegal immigrants in 10 years.
His actions have resulted in formal complaints from the Mexican government against what it considers vigilante actions, and in several other lawsuits, including one stemming from an October 2004 incident.
In that case, a jury awarded a family of Mexican-Americans on a hunting trip $100,000 in damages, later upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court.
Barnett's 22,000-acre ranch, about five miles north of the Mexican border, includes private and federal lease holdings in addition to nearly 14,000 acres of state-leased land.
Ramos and Compean, and now this.
Illegals have more rights than Americans. And Obama will give them even more.
Where are all those Freepers that want cheap labor to clean their toilets for them?
I think some people along the boarder will just start to use the three S’s like the folks in Montana use against Wolves that stalk thier cattle.
Sad but dead men don’t sue.
I’ll clean my own toilet, thank you. Let these foreigners go home and clean their own toilet: Mexico.
Get off my property and get out of my country!
He should file suit against each of them for trespassing. Our legal system is pathetic. Good thing they didn’t get him on all the charges.
The Rancher will appeal and NOT PAY $78,000. Why do they always try to make it seem like it`s all over but the PAYING!! God I hate the media...ALSO, Arizona law does NOT ALLOW ILLEGAL ALIENS TO RECEIVE PUNIYVE DAMAGES..It`s the LAW or something....
Could not agree with you more!!! He has enough land that “those wolves could get lost...”
This was AZ Prop 102 (now known as the Standing in Civil Actions Act (2006))
It passed overwhelmingly.
Roger doesn’t owe any punitive damages.
That’s good info that he won’t be paying anything. I’d tell the illegals to pound sand but that would be redundant from where they were in the 1st place.
MALDEF and all of the TAX-FREE foundations that fund it — Ford, Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations, did this. You think a bunch of deportees sought out a law firm and decided to sue this guy? They were recruited by MALDEF, who had to send people into Mexico to find them, in its ongoing campaign to threaten and intimidate U.S. citizens who so much as open their mouths to protest the fact that we are being invaded and overrun, and our laws spit upon, by illegal aliens from Mexico and the rest of Latin America. Since the foundation money is tax-free and MALDEF, as a non-profit, pays no taxes, we are all subsidizing this undermining of the rule of law on American soil. Someone needs to sue them back.
I’m going to be ill.
Thanks for posting this. This was really bothering me.
For a comparison, go to Cancun and see the ruins at Chitzen Itza. Say you fall down the steep steps of the pyramid—how do you think your lawsuit against mexico, the tour guide, or “unnamed Mayans” would go?
You’d be laughed, (and physically removed) from the country.
Why not? There is a very good chance that Comrade 0bama is an illegal himself.
Seems like the judge and lier’s who represent these illegals should be invited on a fishing excursion.
This was in federal court, not state court, though, so laws re punitive damages in state actions may not apply.
I had same thoughts!
We used to hang traitors.
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