Thread: Arizona Immigration Law Blamed for death of Hispanic man

Arizona immigration law blamed for death of Hispanic man
by Paul Davenport - May. 14, 2010 04:01 PM
Associated Press

Tension surrounding the passage of Arizona's tough new law cracking down on illegal immigration contributed to the slaying of an Hispanic man, allegedly shot by a white neighbor, a representative of the dead man's family said Friday.
Police and the family said the arrested man, 50-year-old Gary Thomas Kelley, allegedly directed racial slurs at 44-year-old Juan Daniel Varela before the May 6 shooting near their homes.
"When you have talk that becomes aggressive, it escalates the violence," said Carlos Galindo, a Phoenix radio commentator acting as a spokesman for Varela's relatives at a state Capitol news conference.
Gov. Jan Brewer on April 23 signed a law that requires police to ask a person's immigration status if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the country illegally. The law takes effect July 29 unless blocked by pending court challenges.
Critics contend the law will lead to racial profiling of Hispanics, a charge denied by Brewer and other supporters of the law.
A probable cause statement filed May 6 said Kelley confronted Varela outside Varela's home and repeated racial slurs at Varela. Varela then apparently attempted to kick Kelley who then allegedly pulled out a revolver and shot Varela, police said.
A police statement said the two men had gotten into altercations several times in recent years. The family wants Kelley charged with premeditated first-degree murder, not second-degree murder, with a hate crime allegation, Galindo said.
"This family wants justice. They're asking that violence stop and that Gov. Brewer and other elected officials take responsibility for this hostile atmosphere they have created" by the immigration law and other legislation, Galindo said.
But Phoenix Police Department spokesman, Officer Luis Samudio, said Friday the shooting was not a hate crime, an allegation that under Arizona law could subject a person convicted of a crime to a stiffer sentence.
Robert Shutts, homicide bureau chief for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, said the case remained under investigation and that the murder charge could be upgraded to first-degree and a hate-crime allegation added if evidence warrants.
Shutts wouldn't comment on whether the new immigration law was a factor in the case. But he said authorities weren't trying smooth over the case or minimize it, as the Varela family has alleged.
"That's not even close to the truth," he said. "We are treating this case with ... utmost seriousness." Kelley on Friday remained jailed in lieu of $750,000 bond, facing one count each of second-degree murder and aggravated assault.
He has not yet entered a plea to the charges and a public defender assigned to represent him did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
However, a probable cause statement filed May 6 by police said Kelley "made comments to the effect of it was self-defense because the victim attempted to assault him."


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... z0o7DhABeL

A police statement said the two men had gotten into altercations several times in recent years.

Several years. Hmm. That would be before the AZ law was written. The AP should be ashamed of running this headline.

Still trying to figure out what 1070 would have to do with this incident, as 1070 does not grant citizens the authority to shoot anyone, illegal or not.

if this story is to be believed. its possible that this was a man acting in self defense, if Varela did indeed try to kick first

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

A police statement said the two men had gotten into altercations several times in recent years.

Several years. Hmm. That would be before the AZ law was written. The AP should be ashamed of running this headline.

You beat me to it ReggieMay. That is the first thing that came to my mind when I read that part of the article. Has nothing to do with the new law. Neighbors do sometimes fight. Besides if there was that type of tension, it would not be affected by any laws that were passed...or not passed.

[quote:kik0640b]Quote:
A police statement said the two men had gotten into altercations several times in recent years.

Several years. Hmm. That would be before the AZ law was written. The AP should be ashamed of running this headline.
[/quote:kik0640b]
I agree that the headline appears to be misleading. I wonder what all of those altercations were about over the past several years? Sometimes I think that neighbor feuds can escalate into the worse of things.

I suspect it was the AP attempt to correlate that this law was responsible for this Hispanic man death and make it into a race issue that resulted from the 1070 bills passage.

As pointed out by another poster this incident was a result of several years of neighbor feud that escalated to a point of deadly violence where a person lost there life. It had nothing to do with this bill.

SB 1070 doens't make a person become racist. If a person is racist that certainly existed long before the conception and inception of the new law.

Many groups as we know are attempting to demonize this new law as a law that is racist in nature and promotes a superior race type mentality when in actuality that is the farthest stretch from the truth.

Are there other races that are racist against anybody not of the same race? You bet. That has existed from the begining of mankind. But in today's world that is a very small percentage.

As we know, this bill is about one thing and one thing only. It is about the extremely poor results our federal government has shown in securing our borders and having an effective handle on the amount ofillegal aliens in our nation that were able to get past the border patrol at our borders.

I posted this article so that we can be aware of the attempts by various news organizations whose goal appears to slant the facts of an event and turn it into something that it even not. At no time after this guy arrest did any law enforcement investigator ever come forward and say this was a hate crime and a direct result of SB1070 but yet they went ahead with a story like this to further aggravate the Hispanic community into believing it is.

That is purely bad reporting and unethical reporting in my opinion. The Associated Press needs to be more careful what they print because if they had one person who read this article and as a result of the article was incited to committ a hate crime that resulted in somebody being seriously injured or worse, killed, they will be directly responsible as a co-conspirator.

It is one thing to report the facts or a direct quote but its another to add a perspective that is factless and biased.

Originally Posted by jamesw62

if this story is to be believed. its possible that this was a man acting in self defense, if Varela did indeed try to kick first

I am an Arizona State Certified firearms instructor and I can tell you from my training and experience on the use of deadly force laws in Arizona that because somebody kicked you is not a justifiable defense on the use of deadly force. That is why he was arrested in my opinion.

A person would have to have the means to commit serious bodily injury or death against you before you are authorized by law to use deadly force. So, for example, if the person presented a knife and said I am going to stab you or kill you or made actions to do either of those things then yes, use of deadly force is authorized and you wouldn't be arrested if the evidence on the scene supports those claims.

The only time there is an exception is in your home under castle doctrine laws as it is reasonable defense to belive that somebody who is attempting to or has actually broken into your home that the automatic assumption is that person intends to committ serious bodily injury or death to you or an innocent 3rd person such as spouse, children, relatives, or friends.

So, based on my analysis of the limited facts available and the statements given by the police if all the guy did was kick him then I think he has a bad defense ahead of him in trying to convince any jury he was justified under state law.

Either way it is for the courts to decide at this point and they will, in the mean I do feel bad for the family for their needless loss of a family member.

I knew this would happen. The law doesnt even go into effect until the end of July.

This family wants justice. They're asking that violence stop and that Gov. Brewer and other elected officials take responsibility for this hostile atmosphere they have created" by the immigration law and other legislation, Galindo said.

The bill didn't creat a "hotstile atmoshere"! It's been around for years now. The man was probably sick of the noise, trash, riff-raff and other BS that IA's bring with them when they settle here and dont assimilate. I'm sure he asked for cooperation and got little to none until he finally lost it.

This bill has nothing to do with it and they are grasping at straws on this one. A sure sign of desperation.