Families sue border activist

TUCSON--Two Cochise County families have filed a lawsuit alleging that activist rancher Roger Barnett, screaming obscenities and ethnic slurs, threatened to shoot them and aimed an automatic weapon at their hunting party, which included three young girls, in October.

Ronald G. Morales, 35, a lifelong Douglas resident, on Monday said his daughters, Venese, 11, and Angelique, 9, and family friend Emma English, 11, were terrified by Barnett's behavior when he assailed them on Oct. 30 on his leased state trust land, where they were deer-hunting.

Morales, speaking at a press conference in Tucson, said the girls have had nightmares about being shot and have had trouble concentrating on schoolwork since the incident.

The lawsuit seeks $200,000 plus punitive damages and alleges Barnett's actions constitute assault, battery, false imprisonment, negligence, gross negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

The group was hunting outside Douglas on land they believed was state trust land leased by Barnett for gazing purposes.

Morales said he has a right to hunt in state trust land and that the state grazing lease Barnett holds gives him no right to patrol leased land with a weapon.

Border-crossers

Attorney Jesus Romo said Barnett has no right to threaten anyone he believes is trespassing. Barnett, a controversial figure, has boasted of rounding up thousands of border-crossers and holding them, often at gunpoint, while awaiting Border Patrol or other authorities.

Romo said that if Cochise County authorities take no action against Barnett, he will file a federal civil rights lawsuit.

Ana English, mother of Emma, said in a prepared statement, "the assault of U.S. citizens because they are Hispanic is a racially motivated hate crime.

"The day the assault took place, Roger Barnett made it very clear to the [responding] deputy and our family that nothing would happen to he [sic] or his brother as a result of their actions by any police agency.

"It is a well-known fact in Cochise County that Roger and Don Barnett are former deputies and it is alleged that the Cochise County prosecutor's family have a long-standing relationship with them. Perhaps that is why Roger feels he can operate with impunity in Cochise County."

Barnett declined comment on the suit, telling the Green Valley News "I'm not going to tell you s--t. You're an a----e. All you guys are a------s. I might have to talk to my lawyer."

Barnett said he felt news media coverage of border issues was biased against him. He did not dispute Morales' contention that the incident took place on state land.

A spokeswoman for Cochise County Attorney Chris Roll said the county attorney's office has had the report for several weeks and it hasn't been assigned to an attorney in part because cases that involve a defendant in custody take priority over non-custody cases.

No comment

The spokeswoman said she could not comment on whether Barnett receives preferential treatment. Roll could not be reached.

Morales said the Sheriff's Department report referred to the land as Barnett's, but said both a county surveyor and state Game and Fish Department official said it was state trust land leased to Barnett. The lawsuit contends the incident took place on state land leased by Barnett.

Morales said his family had hunted in the area for decades and that he had taken care to check with the owners of private property they planned to cross.

He said his daughter Venese had sighted a three-point deer and was about to take aim when he heard Barnett some distance away, yelling at his father, Art Morales, saying he was "just like your ignorant Mexican brothers."

Morales said it was obvious that the hunting party, outfitted with a pick-up truck and rifles, and including the girls, was not a group of border-crossers or drug-smugglers.

He said he immediately recognized Barnett, who is well-known in the area, so he took the rifle away from his daughter and hustled her back to the pick-up.

Morales said he had obtained permission to hunt there, but that Barnett, wearing a Border Patrol hat and with a pistol strapped to his side, appeared to be too angry to reason with, so Morales placed the rifle in the truck and asked Barnett his name.

Lawsuit filed

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 26 in Cochise County Superior Court, says Barnett then reached inside his four-wheeled vehicle and pulled out the AR-15, said "my name is f------g Roger Barnett," and after three attempts, placed a bullet into the chamber of his rifle, then pointed it at Morales.

Morales backed slowly into the truck, with the children crying and Barnett screaming, Morales said. He drove off slowly, as Barnett kept the weapon pointing at him, occasionally sweeping the muzzle across the truck, pointing at the children and Art Morales, the lawsuit says.

Jennifer Allen of the Border Action Network said the Oct. 30 incident proves that Barnett is a racist and not simply a border activist, as he portrays himself.

Morales said Barnett told the sheriff's deputy who responded to Morales' 9-1-1 call he was "a dumb deputy and that the Sheriff's Department would take no action against him."

"I remember the look in my father's eyes as we both felt that we were going to be delivered to our families in a body bag. With a cocked AR-15 pointed at the five of us, we felt as if this was the end of the world," Morales said at the press conference.

"I felt I was going to lose my daughters to the hand of a man that has been terrorizing Cochise County and our borders for nearly 10 years. Our families need to show our girls that no one can point a loaded gun, threaten to kill them and get away with it, or refer to us as ignorant Mexicans. One of the hardest things is trying to explain to those three little girls why this man is not in handcuffs and behind bars," Morales said.

Morales said the Cochise County attorney's office has told the families that criminal charges are pending and that they have had the Sheriff's Department report since Nov. 5.

The lawsuit names as defendants Roger Barnett and his wife, Barbara, and brother, Donald, who also were present. The plaintiffs are Morales and his wife, Renee; their two daughters; Edward A. English and his wife Ana and their daughter, Emma, and Arturo Morales.

Barnett said he did not wish to comment in part because news media, after publicizing a lawsuit that Romo filed against him in federal court last year, failed to report that the suit had been dropped over the summer.

Romo said Monday that he withdrew the suit from federal court and refiled it on Nov. 26 in Cochise County Superior Court. The second suit alleges that in October 2003, Barnett impersonated a Border Patrol officer in rounding up about 30 border-crossers and trespassed on the property of the Summerland Monastery.

That suit also names Donald and Barbara Barnett as defendants.

Romo said another suit has been filed against Roger Barnett for allegedly beating and kicking Mexican immigrant Jose Rodrigo Quiroz Acosta while his dogs attacked Acosta in January 2003.

That suit alleges battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Deputy State Land Commissioner Rich Hubbard said he could not comment on the Oct. 30 incident, but said grazing leases include provisions that leaseholders must comply with all local, state and federal laws.

pfranchine@gvnews.com | 625-5511 x 28