Shawna Forde of Arizona was convicted Monday of killing a 9-year-old girl and her father. Terry Greene Sterling's exclusive jailhouse interview with the beautician-turned-border vigilante. Forde maintains her innocence, describes the jury's guilty verdict as "surreal," and prepares for a possible death sentence.
On Valentine's Day, after deliberating for about a day and a half, a Tucson jury convicted Shawna Forde of murdering 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her dad, Raul, in a brutal 2009 home invasion on the Arizona border.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Shawna Forde Sentenced to Death
Forde, dressed in a navy-and-cream blazer and navy pants, remained calm as she listened to the verdict, even though the murder charges could lead to a death sentence in a state that does not shy from executions. The 43-year-old former child burglar, mom, beautician, and self-professed Minuteman from Everett, Washington, kept her composure, because, she told The Daily Beast in an exclusive post-verdict jailhouse interview,...
On Valentine's Day, after deliberating for about a day and a half, a Tucson jury convicted Shawna Forde of murdering 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her dad, Raul, in a brutal 2009 home invasion on the Arizona border.
Related story on The Daily Beast: Shawna Forde Sentenced to Death
Forde, dressed in a navy-and-cream blazer and navy pants, remained calm as she listened to the verdict, even though the murder charges could lead to a death sentence in a state that does not shy from executions. The 43-year-old former child burglar, mom, beautician, and self-professed Minuteman from Everett, Washington, kept her composure, because, she told The Daily Beast in an exclusive post-verdict jailhouse interview,...
- 2/15/2011
- by Terry Greene Sterling
- The Daily Beast
Shawna Forde faces the death penalty as closing arguments begin in one of the strangest trials in Arizona history. Terry Greene Sterling on the accused's surprising endgame.
For Shawna Forde, a 43-year-old beautician-turned-border vigilante, the moment of truth is at hand. For months, Forde, a Minuteman charged with masterminding a 2009 home invasion in which 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her dad, Raul, were slaughtered on the Arizona border, has maintained her innocence and pushed her lawyers to let her testify on her own behalf. But now, as one of the most bizarre and controversial murder trials in Arizona history draws to a close at Pima County Superior Court in Tucson, Forde has decided not to take the witness stand. It is the ultimate legal gamble. If Forde, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, and several home-invasion-related crimes, is convicted, she could get the death penalty.
For Shawna Forde, a 43-year-old beautician-turned-border vigilante, the moment of truth is at hand. For months, Forde, a Minuteman charged with masterminding a 2009 home invasion in which 9-year-old Brisenia Flores and her dad, Raul, were slaughtered on the Arizona border, has maintained her innocence and pushed her lawyers to let her testify on her own behalf. But now, as one of the most bizarre and controversial murder trials in Arizona history draws to a close at Pima County Superior Court in Tucson, Forde has decided not to take the witness stand. It is the ultimate legal gamble. If Forde, who has pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, and several home-invasion-related crimes, is convicted, she could get the death penalty.
- 2/10/2011
- by Terry Greene Sterling
- The Daily Beast
Latinos are still wondering why the murder of 9-year-old Brisenia Flores raised none of the outcry of rancher Robert Krentz's killing, which fueled Arizona's tough immigration law. But the trial of a female Minuteman may finally bring the girl's killers to justice. Terry Greene Sterling reports from the trial's first day.
As a wounded Gina Gonzalez played dead on the floor of her mobile home in Arivaca, Arizona, in May 2009, she silently told herself to "stay real calm." Her goal, Gonzalez told a Tucson jury on Tuesday, was to survive so she could save her 9-year-old daughter from the tall intruder in blackface who had already shot Gonzalez twice and killed her husband, Raul Flores. The killer "was all out of bullets," Gonzalez testified, so he reloaded as her child, Brisenia Flores, pleaded for her life. Then Gonzalez heard two shots, and from the corner of her eye she saw...
As a wounded Gina Gonzalez played dead on the floor of her mobile home in Arivaca, Arizona, in May 2009, she silently told herself to "stay real calm." Her goal, Gonzalez told a Tucson jury on Tuesday, was to survive so she could save her 9-year-old daughter from the tall intruder in blackface who had already shot Gonzalez twice and killed her husband, Raul Flores. The killer "was all out of bullets," Gonzalez testified, so he reloaded as her child, Brisenia Flores, pleaded for her life. Then Gonzalez heard two shots, and from the corner of her eye she saw...
- 1/27/2011
- by Terry Greene Sterling
- The Daily Beast
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