Border vigilante ordered to pay damages

An Arizona jury in a lawsuit sponsored by the Southern Poverty Law Center, ordered a prominent border vigilante to pay $98,750 to a Mexican-American family he terrorized in 2004. The jury heard testimony that Roger Barnett threatened the plaintiffs – two men and three young girls – with an assault rifle. A deputy sheriff found evidence of aggravated assault and other criminal offenses, but local prosecutors refused to charge Barnett, whose campaign has inspired other self-appointed border watchers like the Minutemen.The jury deliberated just three hours on Nov. 22 before ruling against Barnett for threatening two Mexican-American hunters and three young children with an assault rifle and insulting them with racial epithets.  Click here for more on this story.

The Plaintiffs

KJ