Republican and Beck Fan - "Dannie Baker" Set to go to Trial in April for the Chilean Student Murders

Dannie Baker, the former Republican National Committee Volunteer, Glenn Beck enthusiast and the man charged with killing two Chilean students and wounding three others in February 2009 is scheduled to go to trial April 11. Walton County Circuit Judge on Thursday set the trial date. A pre-trial hearing has been scheduled for Jan. 27. “We’re going to push for the trial to be in April,” Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore said after Wells set the date. “Nothing’s certain because we can’t predict the future. But it’s looking good.”

Baker, 61, is being held at the Walton County Jail. He was arrested Feb. 26, 2009, just hours after he murdered 22-year-old Racine Argandona and 23-year-old Nicholas Corp-Torres at Summer Lake town home complex on Scenic Gulf Drive in Miramar Beach. At the time, he told neighbors he was going to kill Mexican illegal immigrants. The Chilean students -- here in the country legally -- were visiting a friend when lawmen say Baker fired a rifle through one of the unit’s windows about 1:45 a.m.

Three other students, Sebastian Arizaga-Suarez, David Bilboa-Meza and Francisco Cofre-Fernandez were wounded in the shooting. After the shooting, Baker barricaded himself in his town home at the same complex until he surrendered shortly after 6 a.m., according to the Walton County Sheriff’s Office.

Baker is charged with two counts of premeditated first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, three counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm and shooting into an occupied building. Baker was committed to Florida State Hospital in Chattahoochee for mental evaluation and treatment for over a year, attempting to play the "crazy card." However, much to Baker's disappointment, he was determined competent in August 2010 to stand trial.

The three students who were wounded returned to Chile. Elmore said they likely will be called to testify at Baker’s trial. Elmore said the state will seek the death penalty.

Roberto Rivera of Destin spoke with Elmore after the date was set. “From what I’ve been told it looks good for April,” said Rivera, who has kept in touch with two of the students who were wounded. “He can still possibly relapse and the trial won’t begin. For the family, this is going to be a very significant event.

“We all thought he would be playing the crazy card for five years.” Rivera looked around the courtroom and shook his head. He said media attention has declined since the shootings occurred, but the case should resonate with people throughout the community. “This was a national disaster,” he said. “Those kids have had medical issues, psychological issues, and I’m the only one here (for this case). It’s disgraceful. “He (Baker) has to pay for what he’s done, and everyone should care about that.”
Note to Readers: "Immigration Talk with a Mexican American" will continue to follow this trial until the Court Decision and Penalty Phase are announced.

NN 2010 Panel Discussion: Immigration Reform's Strange Bedfellows

NN 2010: The first panel discussion I attended was titled, "Immigration Reform's Strange Bedfellows: The surprising consensus that reform will improve American Jobs and bolster our economy." Panel members included: Mark Lauritsen from the UFCW who hosted the panel, AZ State Rep Krysten Sinema, Adam Luna from America's Voice, Andrea Nill from Think Progress and (my personal favorite) Sacramento Sheriff Art Venegas (ret).

Mark Lauritsen introduced himself and each member of the panel. Each panel member (Mark, Krysten, Adam, Andrea and Art) shared their background and their support for Comprehensive Immigration Reform (CIR) to be passed at the Federal level. Mark provided his background in the Meatpacking industry, the value of the migrant/guest workers and his opposition to exploitive employers. These employers are responsible for low wages and working conditions and they must be stopped. From his experience he knows how inhumane ICE raids are and how many citizens were racially profiled through these raids. He cited examples including the Swift raids and a raid where a citizen friend of his was racially profiled during a raid. He and the other panelists shared their views on the need for the passage of CIR. Each panel also cited the need to stop sb1070, a bill that will racially profile Latino citizens and criminalize friends and family members.

Rep Sinema, Andrea Nill and Adam Luna cited studies that indicated the revenue/sales taxes paid by undocumented workers which is far greater than the costs some nativist groups suggest they impose. They also cited studies which indicate these workers create jobs. Mark Lauritsen referenced the impact the ICE Raids had on Postville, Iowa and how these raids bankrupted the town.

Andrea Nill, a very knowledgeable young woman, connected the dots to identify who is behind sb1070 and the "ANTI" movement -- The John Tanton Network including CIS (research arm), FAIR (legal arm) and NumbersUSA (grassroots arm) and their FEAR Agenda. While they attempt to be mainstream, in reality they are extremists identified by the ADL and SPLC as Hate Groups.

The most impressive panel member was Sacramento Sheriff Art Venegas who is now retired, and is the Project Director for the "Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative (LEEI)." From their website, the groups mission: "The Law Enforcement Engagement initiative (LEEI) was created to advance the dialogue towards common-sense immigration reform among policing professionals and for their voice of reason to be heard throughout America. The Law Enforcement Engagement Initiative works with professional law enforcement organizations and individual policing executives to educate the American people and its elected leaders on the real effects of a broken immigration system and its threat to our national security." Law enforcement from across the country have joined together in this group and have gone to Washington asking the Attorney General Eric Holder, the President and his Administration to stop sb1070 and clone laws being presented in other states. They request the Federal Government be responsible for enforcing and reforming Immigration laws.

Sheriff Venegas provided much needed details to the audience as to why sb1070 should not be passed. He asked all attendees to read the bill in detail and understand the implications. He explained the verbiage of the bill including "may" vs "shall" was very intentional and will ultimately result in racial profiling. He explained that beyond the racial profiling aspects of the bill, he also said friends and families will be criminalized and how citizens with an agenda are prompted to report those they "suspect" are illegal immigrants to police and if the police do not come, they can sue the police. (my long time viewers are familiar with these impacts of sb1070 since I've written about them so often). Sheriff Venegas also said sb1070 will force law enforcement to become immigration officers versus focusing on keeping the peace in their communities. Additionally, it is critical that law enforcement have eyes and ears in the community, and with the passage of sb1070, the undocumented will live in fear of the police and never assist law enforcement identify felonious criminals because they will live in fear of deportation. Additionally, the intent of the bill is Mass Deportation. The cost of Mass Deportation of 12M people plus their children has been calculated to be $20K per person, totalling $2.6 Trillion dollars!

Sheriff Venegas also talked about the need for all of us, from each Progressive group, from bloggers to activists to business to clergy -- from all ethnicities -- we must unite and become involved. We must read and understand the impact of sb1070. We must understand the negative impacts to our communities. We must get involved. Bloggers must blog so all of our viewers understand the bill, the costs and the ultimate detrimental impacts to the community. We must unite and support CIR being passed at the Federal level.

Afterwards, I spoke to the Sheriff's wife who was sitting close to me. I said I was impressed by her husband's words. I let her know I was already involved, studied the issues and write about them on my blog. Her husband joined us and I said I agreed with him. We needed many more people just like him so people understand the issues. He asked for and I provided him my blog address. He gave me his card and I promised to visit his website, which I have now placed on my blogroll. I invited him to be a "Guest Voz" here and hopefully he will be writing a blog for us very soon.

Note to viewers: Some might think only Latinos were in the audience for this panel. However, this was not the case. In fact, the majority of people in the audience were non-Latinos.