An "Old Man's View" of the Trayvon Martin Murder Case

Now that the jury is deliberating, I'm sharing "An Old Man's View" of the Trayvon Martin Murder Case:

Day Two – Shawna Forde Murder Trial – Prosecution has a “surprise” witness – Jason Bush’s girlfriend

Guest Voz - Porter Corn - Immigration Clearinghouse:
Day Two – Shawna Forde Murder Trial – Prosecution has a “surprise” witness – Jason Bush’s girlfriend
Testimony continued to move along today with the defense cross examining the widow of Raul Flores and mother of 9 year old Brisenia Flores in Minuteman Shawna Forde’s capital murder trial. Perhaps the highlight of the day was when prosecutors announced to the Court that their investigators had found Jason Bush’s girlfriend, Melinda Shelton and were going to have her testify. The stunned defense attorney Eric Larsen immediately objected saying they needed time to interview her and investigate her story. (another defense ploy to delay the trial) Prosecutor Rick Unklesbay replied Larsen shouldn’t be surprised because Shelton has always been listed on the witness list and had in fact, been scheduled to testify today.

Judge John Leonardo declined to allow prosecutors to present her as a witness until tomorrow, giving Larsen and Jill Thorpe the opportunity to interview her this evening. It is being reported that Shelton will testify that Shawna Forde at her house in Meadview Arizona in late May (the murders occurred on May 30) and the next time she saw Bush, he was suffering from the gunshot wound to the leg.

Larsen continued his cross examination of Gina Gonzalez by trying to get her to admit she couldn’t identify Forde as the “mean” woman who was barking orders to Bush and the other home invaders. Vut Gonzalez, a brave woman to say the least, threw it right back at him. Larsen asked her, “As you sit here today you still can’t say Shawna Forde was in your home, right?” Gonzalez answered, “No, because I don’t know Shawna Forde.”

Further along in the testimony, Gonzalez stuck to her guns insisting, “She looks like the person in my house.”
Larsen asked, “You also indicated that she was initially in brown camouflage, correct?” Gonzalez answered, “Yes.” “And the second time she was now in green sort of border patrol,” Larsen asked. Gonzalez said, “Yes, like she had taken her jacket off.”

Gonzalez testimony also put the teal mini van found on Albert Gaxiolas property which had Bush’s blood and DNA in it and that had been seen cruising the Flores neighborhood earlier in the day.

Albert Gaxiola’s next door neighbor was also called to testify and she placed Shawna Fordes orange Honda Element at Gaxiolas house 4 hours after the murders. Earlier she testified, about 01:15 Gaxiola was out in his yard trying to start a flooded car. This was half an hour after Gonzalez 911 call. The witness also put Forde and another man at a gathering in Gaxiolas back yard about a week before the murders.

Testimony continues tomorrow as David Winston a medical examiner continues his testimony the autopsy and jurors get a first look at the victims.

Day One – Shawna Forde Murder Trial – Gina Gonzalez Testimony

Guest Voz - Porter Corn - Immigration Clearinghouse:

Day one in the capital murder trial of Minuteman Shawna Forde began mundanely enough with a conference in Judge John Leonardo’s chamber with the attorney’s on both sides and media representatives present. One of Judge Leonardo’s first ruling in the case in principal was to issue a gag order prohibiting any witnesses that might potentially be called to talk about the case to anyone including radio stations, blogs, email or person to person, television, etc. Not surprisingly, one of the potential witnesses has already seen fit to ignore the Judges order.

Opening statements were the first order of business. For the Prosecution, prosecutor Kellie L. Johnson told the jury ”Not only will the state prove to you that Shawna Forde was in that house that night, barking orders and telling people what to do, the state will prove that Shawna Forde organized and planned this offense.” With apparent difficulty, Johnson went on to describe the crime and Brisenias last moments.

Up next, defense attorney Eric Larsen told the jurors the state’s case is essentially a donut, with circumstantial evidence all around, but nothing to put Shawna Forde in the middle. He went on to say his client, Shawna Forde is a “big mouth” and an ”exaggerator extraordinaire” for boasting of her plans to rob drug smugglers. Nothing more than a woman who wants to be more than she is, but she wasn’t in the house that morning.

Gina Marie Gonzalez, widow and mother of the murder victims disputes that.

The highlight of the day was the testimony of Gina Gonzalez and we got a glimpse of what transpired on the morning of May 30, 2009.

Gonzalez testified that as she lay on the floor pretending to be dead, in hopes that the shooter would ignore her and leave, listening to her husband dying, the shooter, who evidence will identify as Jason “Gunny” Bush, interrogated 9 year old Brisenia Flores about the whereabouts of her sister. Brisenia told Bush her sister was with her grandmother and Bush demanded to know where she lived. Earlier, Bush had said to Raul, ”Don’t take this personal, but this bullet has your name on it,”

“She was really scared. Her voice was shaking. I know she’s crying and really scared,” Gonzalez cried.
Bush, out of bullet after shooting Raul and Gina, stood there calmly reloading his weapon as Brisenia demanded to know why he had shot her father and why he had shot her mother.Ignoring Brisenias pleas, Bush put the gun to the childs face and pulled the trigger. Gonzalez testified she heard the shot and saw her daughters body go flying across the room. That was followed by a second shot which blew out the back of the child’s head.

Gonzalez testified that the woman in the house looked like Forde, but she said she couldn’t definitively say it was her “because I don’t know her personally.” She failed to identify Forde in a police lineup after the shooting. Some have considered that Forde might have been wearing a brown wig when she entered the house the first time, which would explain Gonzalez confusion in the identifying Forde completely.

More tomorrow as things develop.

Guest Voz - Immigration Clearinghouse: Brisenia Flores' Murderer Goes to Trial!

Guest Voz - Immigration Clearinghouse: Brisenia Flores' Murderer's Trial begins with questionnaire for prospective jurors
The circus that will be the trial for accused Minuteman child killer Shawna Forde began this morning, barely noticed by the media, as 225 prospective jurors showed up at the Pima County Courthouse in Tucson Arizona.
The prospective jurors were given an 18 page questionnaire to fill out for the attorneys. Those who aren’t immediately dismissed, based on their answers, will return to court on January 11 to answer further questions face to face.

According to Kim Smith of the Arizona Daily Star:
Among other things, the jurors were asked if they know the facts of the case, would they be able to ignore media reports when making a decision and how they would describe their political views. They were also asked if they have any opinions regarding private organizations monitoring or defending the border, if they’ve heard of Forde’s group Minutemen American Defense (MAD) and if they have any strong opinions on illegal immigration. How people answer the questions will be key as prosecutors contend Forde thought Flores was a drug dealer and recruited a group to raid his house for drugs, cash and guns to help MAD. Jurors were also asked their views on the death penalty since prosecutors will seek to have Forde executed if she’s convicted.

MOTIONS DENIED OR DELAYED
On Tuesday, presiding Judge John Leonardo denied a defense motion for a postponement in the case. The attorneys on both sides of the case also argued motions based on the assumption that Forde will be convicted.

Again, according to Kim Smith of the Arizona Daily Star:
When someone is convicted of murder in a capital case, attorneys present what are called aggravating and mitigating factors. The aggravating factors, as one might guess, are those things that might make someone more inclined to vote for the death penalty. Mitigating factors are those that might cast the defendant in a more favorable light — dysfunctional childhood, low IQ, substance abuse issues, etc.

Late last month, defense attorneys told prosecutors they want jurors to hear that Forde was sexually abused as a child, raped in December 2008 and shot in January 2009 and all of these things led her to suffer from PTSD. Prosecutors responded by saying they want jurors to know there is no evidence of any of that. Forde is the main source for the childhood abuse and police closed the rape and shooting cases, saying there was insufficient evidence.

The basis for the motion for the continuance by the defense was to give them more time to investigate Forde's involvement in the shooting of her ex-husband in Everett and the subsequent false rape and shooting charges she made to get police to back away from her as a “person of interest” in her husbands shooting. It is alleged that Forde was also involved in a couple of crimes in California after the home invasion murders in Arivaca. Our sources tell us a detective from northern California who investigated these crimes may be called to testify.
Also on Tuesday, Gina Gonzalez, who miraculously survived the ordeal and was involved in a shootout with gunman Jason Bush, briefly testified in court for the first time. Gonzalez testified Tuesday she recognized Forde for several reasons. It was the first time she’d seen her in person since the incident, she wasn’t wearing makeup (the women in the photo lineup were wearing makeup), she had the same smile and her hair was styled the same way.

As for the smile, Gonzalez said that after the shootings, the home invaders ransacked her house and then left. However, when she was on the phone with 911, she looked up and saw the woman standing on the threshold, smiling. “She saw me standing there and her face dropped and she said ‘Oh, SHIT!,” Gonzalez said.

The woman went back outside and a few seconds later Gonzalez said she and the tall man exchanged shots. (Prosecutors think the tall guy was Jason Bush.) Gonzalez never came out and said “Shawna Forde was the woman home invader.” She did say: “I can say she looked exactly like the person who was in the house that day” and “I can’t say Shawna Forde was there because I don’t know Shawna Forde.”

Judge Leonardo will rule on what can and cannot be admitted into evidence in the coming weeks. It appears the defense strategy is to try and get all incriminating evidence against Forde thrown out and show her to be a “patriotic” but “misunderstood” individual who was dealt a raw deal in life, although no evidence exists of that other than Fordes own words.