Thread: Cockfighter convicted

Published: 12.14.2007
Cockfighter convicted
A.J. FLICK
Tucson Citizen
A Tucson man was found guilty of cockfighting in the county's first trial since the blood sport was banned in Arizona nine years ago.
Raul Figarolla Padilla, 62, faces a sentencing range from probation to 2.5 years in prison when Pima County Superior Court Judge Hector Campoy sentences him Jan. 22.
Deputy County Attorney Kathleen Mayer told jurors in closing arguments Thursday that Padilla allowed cockfighting Dec. 23 on his property in the 4800 block of West Bilby Road.
Deputies were tipped to a cockfight and went to Padilla's property, where dozens of people fled with roosters under their arms, court records show. Padilla and two others were arrested and charged with cockfighting, a Class 5 felony; several others were charged with misdemeanor charges of attending a cockfight.
Padilla was found sitting on a bale of hay by an arena detectives say was built for cockfighting.
"How could anybody be there and not know what was going on?" Mayer said.
Detectives found scales used to weigh the roosters, knives that are strapped on the roosters' feet and indications, such as an oil painting of a cockfight, in Padilla's house that indicate he is involved in cockfighting, Mayer said.
Co-defendant Armando Escarcega Munoz, 58, of Tucson testified that Padilla invited him to bring roosters to fight that day. One of Munoz's roosters died in the fight, he said.
Defense attorney Leon Thikoll said no direct evidence, including DNA and fingerprints, shows Padilla engaged in cockfighting.
"If you have a party at your house and something goes on like a robbery or homicide, does that make you guilty?" Thikoll said. "No, you have to participate."
Mayer said that since Arizona banned cockfighting in 1998 by a voter initiative, no one previously charged here has gone to trial. It may even be the state's first cockfighting trial, said Mayer, who is known statewide for her advocacy against animal cruelty.
Munoz and co-defendant Felicitos Vasquez Cortez, 60, of Sahuarita both pleaded guilty to attempted cockfighting and were sentenced to three years on probation.
Munoz's attorney, D. Jesse Smith, tried to get the cockfighting charge thrown out, saying it violated his 14th Amendment right to pursue a cultural heritage.
"The anti-cockfighting law is nothing more than a manifestation of the moral disapproval by some of any sport where harm to animals is involved, combined with anti-Hispanic sentiment, since cockfighting is no longer the favored sport of kings and presidents, and is largely associated with Hispanics," Smith wrote in a motion.
Smith also said the charge violates the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which in 1848 settled the Mexican War.
"The freedom to engage in a sport that harms no other person (unlike football and boxing which can cause considerable harm to other human beings and remains legal) is as much a part of 'liberty' as anything else," Smith wrote. "If some of the current residents of Arizona are offended by Hispanic culture, they can cede Arizona back to Mexico or move back to the colder climes from whence they came."
Mayer argued in her response that all residents must abide by state law and prosecutors rightly step in where humans harm animals for "entertainment."
"The citizens of Arizona have decided that there is no place in a civilized society for such cruel entertainments as animal fighting," she wrote. "If he, or any other Arizona resident, wishes to entertain himself by watching roosters get slashed to death, he is free to do so in those countries where such things remain legal."
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/71506.php

Munoz's attorney, D. Jesse Smith, tried to get the cockfighting charge thrown out, saying it violated his 14th Amendment right to pursue a cultural heritage.
"The anti-cockfighting law is nothing more than a manifestation of the moral disapproval by some of any sport where harm to animals is involved, combined with anti-Hispanic sentiment, since cockfighting is no longer the favored sport of kings and presidents, and is largely associated with Hispanics," Smith wrote in a motion.

Now this is just hogwash - it has been illegal in many states since before the recent invasion. The fact is, however, it is the law. Laws are written to be enforced.


Smith also said the charge violates the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which in 1848 settled the Mexican War.
"The freedom to engage in a sport that harms no other person (unlike football and boxing which can cause considerable harm to other human beings and remains legal) is as much a part of 'liberty' as anything else," Smith wrote. "If some of the current residents of Arizona are offended by Hispanic culture, they can cede Arizona back to Mexico or move back to the colder climes from whence they came."
Mayer argued in her response that all residents must abide by state law and prosecutors rightly step in where humans harm animals for "entertainment."


Now this is really scary stuff here. 'they can cede AZ back to Mexico ' - scary stuff.

So we can't say to illegals - go back to your home - you are here illegally.

But they, through their lawyer, can say - if you don't like the way illegals behave, then give the country to Mexico and move!

That is pretty brazen I would think.

That judge should have lowered the boom on that attorney and in no uncertain terms.

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D. Jesse Smith should be disbarred. Sending this to several animal rights organizations.

I can hear her now defending a child molester--violates culture and 14th amendment rights................

Fences make good neighbors.

The part that got me was the idea that if we didn't like them breaking our laws, we needed to just give the state to Mexico and leave.

It is unthinkable for an attorney to say such things.