Trial begins for Arizona rancher who detained illegal aliens

Feb. 3, 2009 09:24 AM
Associated Press

TUCSON - The trial is now under way in a civil-rights lawsuit against a southern Arizona rancher accused of holding a group of illegal aliens at gunpoint near Douglas.

Attorneys for the 16 people who were trying to cross into the U.S. illegally accuse Roger Barnett of holding a gun on the group, threatening them with his dog and also threatening to shoot anyone who tried to escape, according to a news release from the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund.

The group also said Barnett kicked one of the women in the group when she was on the ground.

The federal lawsuit charges Barnett, his wife, Barbara Barnett, and his brother, Donald Barnett, with conspiring to violate the plaintiffs' civil rights, according to the release.

U.S. District Court Judge John Roll in March rejected Barnett's efforts to have the charges thrown out, ruling that sufficient evidence of a conspiracy existed, that the Barnetts denied the immigrants' right to interstate travel and that the actions of the three were motivated by race.

Barnett's attorney, David Hardy, had argued that illegal immigrants didn't have the same rights of interstate travel as U.S. citizens do.

Roll's ruling came on the heels of another judgment against Barnett in February 2008.

At that time, the Arizona Court of Appeals refused to throw out a jury verdict from November 2006 - and a nearly $100,000 monetary award - against Barnett in another civil case where a jury concluded he falsely imprisoned members of a Douglas family.

The current trial is scheduled to go through Feb. 13.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... trial.html