Shawna Forde – More Evidence emerges in Arivaca killings

 Posted by on 2010/02/15
Feb 152010
 

Albert Gaxiola and lawyers in court to ask that the death penalty be removed from his case

Defense attorneys for Albert Gaxiola were back in court to ask presiding Judge John Leonardo to reconsider his decision to allow prosecutors to pursue the death penalty for him.

Gaxiola, Shawna Forde and Jason Bush are charged with first-degree murder in last year’s deaths of Raul Flores, Jr. and his young daughter, Brisenia. If convicted, the three could receive the death penalty.

Flores was shot six times, three times in the chest, once each in the head, arm and hand. His 9-year-old daughter was shot twice in the face.

Authorities believe Forde and Bush planned to rob Flores of drugs and money to fund Forde’s Minutemen American Defense group, which is devoted to fighting illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

Attorneys Jack Lansdale and Steven West contend Gaxiola was not at Flores’ house the night of the slayings.
In their motion asking Leonardo to reconsider his ruling the defense attorneys say:

  • One of the state’s key witnesses, Oin Oakstar, will testify there was no plan to kill Flores’ children or his wife. (Oakstar says he was supposed to go with them that night, but got too drunk.)
  • Although Gaxiola’s DNA was found on a gun at the scene, Flores’ wife identified the tall man (presumably Bush) was the one carrying it and there’s no way to tell when the DNA was left on the gun.
  • Some jewelry and weapons were stolen, but $4,000 in cash was left behind, so prosecutors can’t prove pecuniary gain was a motive.
  • Flores’ wife knows Gaxiola, but she never identified him as the other man she saw peeking in that night.

The defense attorneys attached a portion of the statement Oakstar gave prosecutors to their motion. In it, he says:

  • They didn’t really discuss the family. That wasn’t part of the plan as far as I knew…The only thing they discussed was taking down Junior and Victor, try to catch ‘em together.”

When asked about Gaxiola’s motivation, Oakstar said Gaxiola wanted to eliminate his competition.

(He said) if there was weed, he was gonna use it to pay them for the, for the killing,” Oakstar said.

When Bush and Forde told him what happened that night, Oakstar said he told them, “You guys messed up, you know, that’s, you can’t, you can’t be doing that. You can’t shoot, you know, you can’t shoot women and kids, and they’re like, ‘Well it just happened that way.”

SOURCE: Kim Smith – AzStarNet

Several things wrong with this though. The don’t realize without regard to Gaxiola’s involvement, he was involved in the conspiracy to murder these people. Just as Forde may not have pulled the trigger, all three are equally culpable. No mention is made here of the arsenal found inside Gaxiolas home when it was searched, including the sawed off shotgun concealed inside a desktop printer.

Related posts:

  1. Prosecution – Gaxiola was the orchestrator of the Arivaca murders

  • Rena Caudle

    To "Advocate"

    For one thing, if you get suicidle, they take away your clothing and give you paper clothing so you can't hurt yourself. That is what she was given. One time they say all of Shawna's windows are blacked out so no one including the gaurds can't see her then we get they are all standing at her window ogling her. I know sexual harassement happens in the prisons but I just don't see this one happening. I just can't state why I think this. But if you know a lot about my daughter you will figure it out. This whole thing with Dill is absurd. I wonder how much of the money has gone to Shawna that Dill is trying to raise? I wonder if Shawna even knows about the money? That would be one thing Shawna would have a deep interewst in. It was for money she probably had her husband shot, it was for money my friends and my son were robbed and it was for money that Bresenia died. I have read what people have said about Raul Flores, that he carries some of the blame but I disagree with that. No matter how he came by his money no one had a right to enter his home, kill him and his young daughter to take what wasn't theirs to take.He had no idea that was going to happen to them. Gina paid dearly for all of that. Parents shouldn't have to lose their children. It is horrible. I know. Even though my youngest son passed away from Ewings Sarcoma it was still a terrible loss. Having your child murdered is the absolutely worst. If a woman walks down the street buck naked no man has a right to rape her. People need to change their thinking and stop blaming their victims. But I suppose Shawna has to do that because how else can she live with what she has done?

  • mmetzger

    I aam sure they will offer Gaxiola a deal if he turns states evidence. I think he will ! He obviously has a fear of death. If Shawna does not start talking she will not be spared which I think is totally foolish on her part.

  • Rena Caudle

    I have read the story about Shawna being anorexic too. She has never been anorexic. Yes, she throws up from time to time when she is stressed out, but stress does that to you. I have seen pictures of her when she was a teen and living in Bethel, Alska and she was over weight then. If she had that disorder then sahe would have been tremendously skinny. It is sad to see Roberta Dill use Shawna this way. She is making her look like a fool and Shawna doesn't even know it. How does that help her case? If I was in jail I would not be doing what they are doing. It is simply sad. Also, when they put a prisoner on suicide watch the give them paper coverings and do not let them run around totally nude. Anyway that is what they do in California. Shawna does get suicidal in a sense as she has told me several times she wished someone would just kill her as she didn't have the courage to do it herself. She has enough problems to cause her to feel that way. I can understand that. I do not know how serious she was in saying that but she said it.

    • Advocate

      I agree Rena.

      It's obvious that these rantings are coming from the sick and perverted mind of Dills. For instance, if she is being held in solitary (and there is a difference in Protective Custody, and Solitary, used for disciplinary problems) then she certainly doesn't have access to visitors such as Dill or her little group of whackos.

      And, again, you folks read my mind about Dills claims that she is kept nude and incommunicado.

      One wonders if Dills even has contact with your daughter. But we can all agree she is doing no favors for Shawna posting this trash.

      Apparently, she thinks she can make your daughter a hero in the eyes of the extremists, such as Joe Loya did for his son in law, Ignacio Ramos. And we see how that turned out.

  • mmetzger

    +

    Shawna is now claiming that she was anorexic when she was younger. Uh would everyone like to see a picture of Shawna from 20 plus years ago ? It will show that Shawna was a short fat woman all her life. Anorexic people even if they do start eating will never get fat. This is a fact from doctors records as I researched this after reading the new article from Justiceforshawnaforde.com site. I am going to blow Roberta Dill and John Lyons storie right through the roof. If a person is anorexic they always are to some point and they never get fat, that is why they are called Anorexic. You got to read the story it is rather stupid funny !!!!!

    • Advocate

      Yeah, I was just reading that trite crap. Naked 24 hours a day? Yeah, right!

      She can't get her stories straight (Lawless). If you're in solitary, how can you communicate with other inmates, or be the "hero" by interdicting in a suicide.

      This is becoming a gonzo comic thanks to Dills. She is doing nothing to help her "friend".

  • Advocate

    It might be a possibility, dependent on what the prosecution thinks he could offer, the strength of their case against him etc.

    Right now, this is just more legal mumbo jumbo to get the death penalty off the table

    • mmetzger

      I would think if they did that for Gaxiola the they would do it for Shawna also ?

  • mmetzger

    So is Gaxiola going to turn states evidence ?