Sunday, January 30, 2011

Day 4 - Shawna Forde Murder Trial

Guest Voz - Porter Corn - Immigration Clearinghouse:
Oin Oakstar was the sole witness to take the stand on Day 4 of Minuteman Shawna Forde’s capital murder trial.
According to Oakstar, who was supposed to be participate in the murders, but was to drunk to do so, it was all business according to something called the “Arivaca Rules”. Either Raul Flores was going to kill him and Albert Gaxiola or they were going to kill Flores, because he and Gaxiola has stolen hundreds of pounds of marijuana from Flore.

They figured they should kill him before he killed them in retaliation. But Oakstar insisted they never discussed a plan involving Flores’ wife and children.
According to David Ricker who is observing the trial: But, they soon began to consider other alternatives. “Once we had gone that far either he was going to kill us or we were going to kill him,” Oakstar testified. “Albert thought we should kill him. We discussed having it done by somebody else. We also discussed doing it ourselves.” There was no discussion of harming the remainder the of the Flores family. “There was no reason to involve his family,” Oakstar testified. “This was business.” Oakstar testified that Gaxiola had met Forde in May 2009. “He suggested inviting her down to help us with our problem,” he said.
And from Kim Smith of the Arizona Daily Star: After he hooked up with Gaxiola, the two decided to kill Flores and other rival drug smugglers, Oakstar said. They decided the best way to kill Flores was to ambush and shoot him from a distance, but rather than “jump in with both feet” they mulled it over for a few months, Oakstar said. When Gaxiola introduced him to Forde in early May, the plan was accelerated, Oakstar said. Forde told him she wanted to rob and kill drug smugglers to fund her Minutemen project, Oakstar testified.
Oakstar also connected the teal van seen cruising past the Flores residence with Forde. The same van was found on Gaxiolas property after the murder with blood stains which were matched to the shooter Jason Bush. Oakstar admitted his testimony was part of a plea agreement which prevented him from going to prison for up to 15 years on weapons charges. However, Oakstar admitted to defense attorney Eric Larsen he was afraid of being charged as an accomplice in the slayings, he had lots of incentives to cut a deal, and all he could think about was getting out of jail.
The trial continues next week. But it appears, a conviction is inevitable.

No comments:

Page Hits