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.

Brisenia Flores' Murderer, Minuteman Leader Shawna Forde, Attempts to Exclude Key Evidence

AZ Daily Star reports: Murder suspect Shawna Forde's attorneys have filed more motions to keep evidence away from the jury. Just a quick recap first. Forde, Jason Bush and Albert Gaxiola are charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Raul Flores and Brisenia Flores, who died during a home invasion in Arivaca in June 2009. Raul's wife, Gina, suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound herself, but prosecutors say she managed to shoot Bush before he fled.

One of the state's key witnesses is Oin Oakstar, who is expected to testify the trio wanted to steal Flores' drugs, money and guns and Gaxiola wanted to eliminate him as a competitor in the drug trade. All three defendants have entered pleas of "not guilty" and Forde and Gaxiola's attorneys say they weren't even at the scene that night.

One of Forde's defense attorneys, Jill Thorpe, filed a motion recently asking Judge John Leonardo to prevent prosecutors from telling jurors:

. that Oakstar claims he saw Bush after the home invasion and...
1) Bush told him that the plan "went to (expletive)"
2) Gina Flores had shot him.
3) Gaxiola and Forde both asked him to bring painkillers for Bush because of the gunshot wound.

Thorpe argues all of the comments are inadmissable hearsay.

Forde's other attorney, Eric Larsen, filed a separate motion asking Judge Leonardo to keep out a bunch of stuff Forde's family members have told investigators. For example, Larsen doesn't want jurors to know Forde's mom has described Forde as a "sociopath" or that Forde's mom and brother think she's behind the December 2008 shooting of her former husband. In addition, Larsen doesn't think jurors should be privvy to the fact Forde's brother claims he saw her taking his painkillers once.

Lastly, Larsen doesn't want Forde's brother, mother or sister to be allowed to discuss Forde's views on minorities. According to Larsen, mom doesn't think Forde is a racist, her brother thinks she is and her sister "says Forde is racist in her comments but would socialize with minorities."

All of this stuff would unfairly prejudice the jury against Forde, Larsen wrote. Prosecutors haven't responded to either motion yet. Forde and Gaxiola are currently scheduled to go to trial in January, although the defense attorneys hope to convince Judge Leonardo to split the cases into two separate trials. Bush is scheduled to go to trial in March. If convicted, the trio could get the death penalty.