The Arizona Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence issued to Jason Eugene Bush on a 6-1 vote, for his role in the break-in and murders committed by a group of Minutemen militia members near the Arizona-Mexico border in 2009.
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| Benjie Sanders/Arizona Star |
Judge Larry Winthrop* concurred that there were no reversible errors by the trial court, but that the death penalty itself is “unconstitutionally cruel” and “unconstitutionally unusual” and therefore should not be imposed.
Writing for the majority, Justice John Pelander called Winthrop’s dissent “odd” and spent the next five pages dissecting it before concluding that there was no basis in this case for determining whether the death penalty is constitutional. (Chief Justice Scott Bales wrote a one-paragraph concurrence echoing that last point.)
Bush was part of a group of Minutemen border militia members who decided to try to fund their organization by robbing and killing drug smugglers. They pretended to be immigration officials and entered the Arivaca home and killed 29-year old Raul Junior Flores and his 9-year old daughter Brisenia. Ringleader Shawna Forde is already on Arizona’s death row.
*Winthrop is a Court of Appeals judge who was sitting on the case due to the recusal by Justice John Lopez.
There is a direct line from the murder of 9 year old Brisenia to Trump and today’s Arizona GOP.
If you are not familiar with the murder of 9 year old Brisenia, you should read up. It’s a shameful piece of Arizona history, with ties to Joe Arpaio and the local Nazi movement.
Shawna Forde’s history alone is worth the read. These people are scum.
These folks, along with Minuteman founder Chris Simcox (convicted child molester, his own daughters) are prime examples of the kind of folks these right wing fringe groups attract.
The Minutemen, murdering and molesting children in the name of Patriotism.
These right wing fringe groups have been moving into the mainstream of Republican politics. And they’re still packed with criminals and perverts.
Mike Cernovich is one of the new crop of creeps, he’s been to the White House under Trump as a “journalist”. He flashed the White Power sign while in the White House press room.
He’s also a convicted rapist, and used to post how to get away with rape articles on the web.
We have a GOP candidate in Arizona now, Bobby Wilson, who murdered his mother and sister, and now says the murder of his mother is reason to support the Second Amendment.
He’s a sick, twisted man, and a GOP candidate for office in Arizona.
That these people have followers. They are in the mainstream of the GOP now.
I am 100% against the death penalty, but I will not be shedding any tears when this guy and Shawna Forde’s time on earth ends.
Thanks for the great context, Not Tom 🙂