Arizona jurors decided an anti-illegal immigration activist — portrayed as the ringleader of a hit squad — should receive the death penalty for the killings of a Latino man and his 9-year-old daughter, a court spokeswoman said Tuesday.
The Pima County jury’s decision, which was unanimous, is binding.
If the jury had not voted for the death penalty, the judge would have decided whether Shawna Forde should have received life with a chance of parole after 35 years or life with no possibility of parole.
Forde showed no emotion as the verdict was read, according to CNN Tucson affiliate KGUN.
Her attorney, Eric Larsen, said he “fully expected that this community valued human life greater than this jury did.”
Juror Angela Thomas told KGUN, “We chose death because that’s what seems fair. There’s a little girl in this equation whose father won’t be able to walk her down the aisle,” she said.
Forde was convicted February 14 on eight counts, including two counts of murder for the shooting deaths of Raul Flores and his daughter, Brisenia, and the attempted murder of the child’s mother, Gina Gonzales.
The vigilante attacks were in May 2009. The child and her father were American-born U.S. citizens but were targeted by Forde and her hit squad.
Her alleged accomplices, Albert Robert Gaxiola and Jason Eugene Bush, are scheduled to go on trial later this year.
CNN Wire Staff
