Arizona Rancher Ordered by Court to Pay Undocumented Immigrants for Holding Them at Gunpoint
Published February 04, 2011
AP
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court's ruling ordering an Arizona rancher to pay damages to unauthorized immigrants he held at gunpoint in 2004.
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court verdict ordering Arizona rancher Roger Barnett to pay damages of $87,000 for holding a group of undocumented immigrants at gunpoint.
The incident occurred in March 2004 when the gun-toting Barnett detained a group of 16 unauthorized immigrants -- none of them carrying weapons -- on public land near the border town of Douglas, Arizona.
He held the group captive with threats that his dog would attack them if anyone moved or tried to escape. Barnett also kicked an woman while she was on the ground.
A federal court jury in Arizona ruled in 2009 that Barnett had no cause to plead self-defense, since he admitted that no one had attacked or threatened him, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund noted.
Barnett appealed to the Nirth Circuit, which upheld the original verdict.
Presiding over the original trial was Chief Judge John Roll, who was killed in the Jan. 8 attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords at a Tucson shopping center.
This is the second verdict against Barnett.
On Sept. 8, 2008, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a verdict against the rancher after a jury awarded close to $100,000 in compensation to a Hispanic family, all with U.S. citizenship, who were threatened by the rancher as they were hunting on state land.
LEE ADDS: When an American is denied the right to defend his person and property it is a very sad day in America!
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