Ariz. Minutemen Leader Guilty of Double Murder

TUCSON, Ariz. - An Arizona jury has found the leader of an anti-illegal immigrant group guilty in a home invasion that left a 9-year-old girl and her father dead.

A Tucson jury found that Shawna Forde was guilty of the May 2009 killings of 29-year-old Raul Flores and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia at their home in Arivaca, a desert community about 10 miles north of Mexico.

Prosecutors say Forde broke in and gunned down Flores and Brisenia in attempt to steal drug money to fund border operations.

The 42-year-old Forde had pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges stemming from the home invasion.

Court supervisor Cheryl Thompson said the jury will return Tuesday to begin the penalty phase.

In closing arguments last week, prosecutor Rick Unklesbay argued that phone calls and text messages sent by Forde clearly show she was responsible, while defense attorney Eric Larsen said they proved she had nothing to hide and should be found not guilty.

Forde is the leader of the Minutemen American Defense, a small border watch group, and prosecutors contend that she planned the attack to help fund her anti-immigrant operations.

Authorities allege that she and two men dressed as law enforcement officers forced their way into Flores' home, and then shot him, his daughter Brisenia and his wife, Gina Gonzalez, who survived her injuries.

Flores was believed to be involved with drug trafficking, police say, but officers don't think the assailants found much cash or drugs in the home.

Forde sat quietly in court Thursday, but smiled and joked with others during a break.

Larsen said a recorded phone conversation following the killings with a friend of Forde's who was cooperating with the FBI shows she wasn't involved in the home invasion.

She said "I don't know anything other than I'm trying to chase the cartels and the illegals, but home invasions and (stuff) like that, sorry — that's not up my alley," Forde said during the call, according to Larsen.

Before coming to Arizona, Forde lived in Everett, Wash., where she ran for the city council in 2007, promising to allow police to check the immigration status of suspects, according to local news accounts.

Chris Simcox, founder of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, previously told The Associated Press that his group kicked Forde out in 2007 amid allegations of lying and pretending to be a senior leader, and that Forde began her own group, bragging that it would be going after drug cartels. That claim made him worry about the safety of other Minutemen, he said.

"We knew that Shawna Forde was not just an unsavory character but pretty unbalanced, as well," Simcox said.