Posted on 08/20/2005 8:15:09 AM PDT by kennedy
Two Salvadoran immigrants booted off a South Texas ranch in 2003 by the vigilante group Ranch Rescue were awarded a chunk of land from one of the participants in the clash that had spawned civil suits and criminal charges.
An attorney for the immigrants called it "poetic justice." The 70-acre ranch, near the Arizona-Mexico border, was believed to be used to train militias.
It belonged to Casey Nethercott, 37, who's serving a five-year sentence since a Jim Hogg county jury found him guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm during the scuffle with the immigrants near Hebbronville.
The Salvadorans, Edwin Alfredo Mancia Gonzales, 26, and Fatima Del Socorro Leiva Medina, 30, testified that Nethercott pistol-whipped Mancia in the head, but the jury deadlocked on that allegation.
The pair then filed a lawsuit against Nethercott, Jack Foote, the founder of Ranch Rescue, and the owner of the Hebbronville ranch, Joe Sutton.
Sutton, who'd invited the border watch group to his land because he was fed up with drug-traffickers and immigrants passing through on their way north, settled for $100,000.
But Nethercott and Foote didn't respond to the suit, resulting in a combined $1.35 million default judgment against them.
Nethercott's ranch, which he bought in cash for $120,000, was signed over to the immigrants Aug. 11.
"That's pretty good given the way (Nethercott) handled people, the things he had done," said retired Texas Ranger Doyle Holdridge, who interviewed the immigrants before the criminal trial. "Something fair happened at the end and the people didn't get the complete shaft.
"What struck me is that when you looked at those two victims, you talk about harmless, docile people. I mean these people were so meek and mild."
The payout comes at time when the governors of Arizona and New Mexico are complaining about how the flow of illegal immigration along the border is out of control, which also was the motivation for the highly publicized Minuteman Project, another border watch group.
Marvin Rader, an attorney from the Houston area who previously represented Sutton, lambasted the outcome of the case.
"We need some legislation to make it so that these illegal aliens can't come in here and sue people," he said. "It's ridiculous for them to be suing the ranchers when they are trespassing on their property. We are not taking care of the borders."
But Morris Dees, chief trial counsel for the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center, which represented the Salvadorans in the suit, said signing the ranch over to the immigrants is "poetic justice."
"I think it's an important resolution of this matter against Ranch Rescue because it first of all sends a message to legitimate ranchers and others that you don't just risk the condemnation of good people, but you might also risk your assets and your land," Dees said.
Rader said in response: "To me it's a bad message. We are basically taking the borderlands away from the people —— that rightfully own those lands —— by failing to protect them.
"If somebody moved into your house and the police wouldn't do anything about it, what would you do? You'd take the law into your own hands and start moving them out yourself."
According to court testimony in the criminal trial, Sutton complained the Border Patrol wasn't effective, yet he didn't give agents open access to his land.
Nethercott, a former bounty hunter, deeded his Arizona ranch property to his sister, Robin Albitz; however, the immigrants sued for fraudulent transfer. Albitz ultimately signed the property over to them, Dees said.
Neither Nethercott's attorney, Jay Jacobson, nor Albitz could be reached for comment.
Dees said it's unclear what the immigrants will do with the property, but they'll probably sell it. He said they are in the United States legally with temporary permits as they seek permanent status.
Mancia lives in Los Angeles and Leiva in Dallas.
They are both doing "work that migrants do. Work that's difficult to get Americans to do," Dees said.
"If somebody moved into your house and the police wouldn't do anything about it, what would you do? You'd take the law into your own hands and start moving them out yourself."
The SPLC has become a perversion.
This country is screwed given the lunatics that run the judiciary and the scatterbrained nitwits that get seated on juries.
My reply:
***COMMENT REMOVED BY PSYCHIC PRE-MODERATOR***
Damn, that psychic pre-mod!!!
More like "ironic."
Both parties were committing crimes. The felon who was in possession of a firearm was punished as a criminal.
What is the criminal penalty to the illegal alien or any other trespasser?
Instead, the trespasser in this case is given a *Civil* court award.
Why should you be able to sue in Civil court for damages incurred during the commission of a crime?
Precisely WHY we need Minutemen -NOt the Feds securing our
borders. AND WHY we need to hang together -or we will all be hung separate by these foreign Courts. None of the posts thus far have suggested the Judge lose his property-
as is being attempted with Souter's haven.The Judge ought have his home seized and turned into something useful -might I suggest a cemetary for the poor illegal immigrants that die trespassing?Dees if you please could be
under the cemetary gate post to welcome the damned.
The Salvadorans are called "immigrants" without mention of the fact that they were illegal aliens or trespassing - until the defendants in the Civil case and their advocates are quoted.
And Nethercott was not convicted of that. He was found not guilty. He is in prison on the unrelated charge of being a felon with a gun. When do the criminal prosecutions of the illegals begin? They are admittedly guilty of crossing into the United States illegally and trespassing on private property illegally. Why are they treated as victims, when they instigated virtually all that happened by their crimes?
The entire story by the illegals is a fabrication, probably elicited by BP agents who prompted them after they were turned over, since the BP and ICE are both known to have had it out for Nethercott and Ranch Rescue.
From the not guilty verdict in the "beating" allegation, to the not guilty verdict in Arizona when the Border Patrol pursued Nethercott onto his own land and then fabricated the story about Nethercott pointing guns at them elsewhere, the illegal aliens and the BICE/BP have come out to be the liars, and Nethercott to be largely telling the truth. If you want to take the time to do a web search, you will find that Customs and the Border Patrol even went so far as to try and use the Cochise County Planning and Zoning commission to get Nethercott, a move that Sheriff Larry Dever opposed. Of all the "law enforcement" in this case, only Dever comes out well. The other agencies are clearly politically driven and are essentially illegal alien friendly.
But Nethercott has a history, and is not a particularly sympathetic character. So he is convicted in the court of public opinion, but not in fact. As far as the civil trial goes, he didn't fight it. Probably because he was out of money to do so. Dees knows that. And Dees has millions of dollars behind him (actually, about $200 million) to run his game. He gets those dollars from saps like yourself who don't bother to look at the reality of a case and simply go on emotion.
Dees has accomplished what he set out to do: the people who own land on the border have now been put on notice that no resistance will be allowed. They must stand back and have their land trashed, their homes burgled, their lives put in mortal danger from foreigners who are nothing more than criminal terrorists. It is even admitted by the Border Patrol that Mexican military patrols cross into the United States and engage in firefights, but that doesn't elicit anything like the effort the federal government people expended in taking down Ranch Rescue, and in particular, a minor moron like Nethercott.
Good job. Keep up the Crocodile Tears, the America Haters love it.
At least the NYT Headline declares them "Illegal."
and, it reports the fact that the jury refused to convict on the charges of pistol whipping.
It also includes:
""Mr. Mancía and Ms. Leiva were caught on a ranch in Hebbronville, Tex., in March 2003 by Mr. Nethercott and other members of Ranch Rescue. The two immigrants later accused Mr. Nethercott of threatening them and of hitting Mr. Mancía with a pistol, charges that Mr. Nethercott denied. The immigrants also said the group gave them cookies, water and a blanket and let them go after an hour or so.""
1. Sutton did not "pay the whole verdict" or "lose the ranch." He settled for $100,000
2. Nethercott, the "bounty hunter" was a convicted felon, and is now serving time as felon in possession. That happens a dozen times a day in courts all over the country.
3. Nethercott may have had a defense, but he didn't present any. If you sue (or are sued) and the defendant simply blows off the court by not answering, you have to expect a default judgment against the defendant.
4. The whole episode is a bit strange, but it certainly doesn't mean that every defense of property will mean you lose yours.
5. The CRIMINAL jury hung on the "pistol-whipping" charge. A civil jury might have found either way, but Nethercott didn't answer and put that to a jury.
Was Nethercott in jail when the Civil case came up? What are the provisions for inmates when it comes to answering a Civil - as opposed to a Criminal - court case?
I've never advocated hanging bad judges, but...
What an outrageous injustice - its antiAmerican and unconstitutional! Write to EVERYONE in the politicracy and to every constitutional watchdog on this abomination. Recall this judge! Petition and appeal this outrageous "decision." This is frightening...that trespassers who are illegals can be awarded citizens' private property. What on earth is America coming to??!!??
No big deal, when we get the socialist paradise, no one will have property.
Ditto!
The judge? What judge? None of these guys had the guts to fight it out in court. One settled and the other two hid under the covers.
If the legislative branch was not composed of self-serving career politician elites, the Supreme Court would be held properly to it position determined by the concept of Balance of Powers. America keeps re-electing Congressionalcrap - they are a self-serving aristocracy: tenured, entitled and entrenched against the secured well being and against the true benefit of American citizens.
How many congresscrapmen are going to voice their outrage against this court's unconstitutional decision? A decision that only the ACLU and the Communist Party would celebrate!
One *utopian* IDEAL of the *Brave New World* agenda of one world socialist government advocates is egalitarian government housing for everyone except the *altruistic* ruling elites. There is a prophetic warning in the message from President Bush when he said, to paraphase, "America is an ownership society."
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