Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 10, 2006 20:34:52 GMT -5
immigrant killings
GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO
Associated Press
ATLANTA - Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for two men charged with murdering six Mexican immigrants killed with guns and baseball bats during a string robberies at trailer parks in south Georgia last fall.
"There're a lot of different grounds, plus the nature of the crimes," Tift County District Attorney Paul Bowden said Monday.
Jamie Deamtrive Underwood and Stacey Bernard Sims were indicted for murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in the case of the deaths of six men and the injury of at least six others.
The multiple murders during armed robberies and burglary were listed as the statutory aggravating circumstances in the indictment seeking the death penalty, which a grand jury issued on May 30.
On Sept. 30, immigrant workers were targeted in at least four attacks in and around the small agricultural community of Tifton, about 170 miles south of Atlanta.
The brutal slayings - with the victims beaten, shot and, in at least one case, raped - shocked many of the thousands of Hispanic immigrants, especially the illegal ones, who have flocked to south Georgia to pick cotton, peaches, peanuts and cotton.
Two women, Jennifer Lafay Wilson and Emma Jean Powell, were indicted on the same charges as Underwood and Sims, but prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against them, Bowden said.
"Their role basically was driving them from place to place," he said.
All four are from neighboring Moultrie and all four are black, stirring speculation that the attacks were racially motivated.
Police have said there is no evidence of that, and many criminals consider immigrants easy prey because they tend to carry large sums of cash, especially if they're undocumented and can't open bank accounts.
According to the indictment seeking the death penalty, Underwood and Sims killed the men "for the purpose of receiving money and cell phones having monetary value."
Killed were Mateo Pais Gomez, Florindo Mauricio Pais, Jose Luiz Paez, Guadalupe Sanchez Cabello and Felipe Mauricio Esparza, all hit with a baseball bat or similar object on the head. Armando Martinez Perez was shot to death with a handgun. Some of their roommates were assaulted and robbed but survived.
Source: Macon.com
www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/15007831.htm
GIOVANNA DELL'ORTO
Associated Press
ATLANTA - Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for two men charged with murdering six Mexican immigrants killed with guns and baseball bats during a string robberies at trailer parks in south Georgia last fall.
"There're a lot of different grounds, plus the nature of the crimes," Tift County District Attorney Paul Bowden said Monday.
Jamie Deamtrive Underwood and Stacey Bernard Sims were indicted for murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, armed robbery, burglary and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime in the case of the deaths of six men and the injury of at least six others.
The multiple murders during armed robberies and burglary were listed as the statutory aggravating circumstances in the indictment seeking the death penalty, which a grand jury issued on May 30.
On Sept. 30, immigrant workers were targeted in at least four attacks in and around the small agricultural community of Tifton, about 170 miles south of Atlanta.
The brutal slayings - with the victims beaten, shot and, in at least one case, raped - shocked many of the thousands of Hispanic immigrants, especially the illegal ones, who have flocked to south Georgia to pick cotton, peaches, peanuts and cotton.
Two women, Jennifer Lafay Wilson and Emma Jean Powell, were indicted on the same charges as Underwood and Sims, but prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against them, Bowden said.
"Their role basically was driving them from place to place," he said.
All four are from neighboring Moultrie and all four are black, stirring speculation that the attacks were racially motivated.
Police have said there is no evidence of that, and many criminals consider immigrants easy prey because they tend to carry large sums of cash, especially if they're undocumented and can't open bank accounts.
According to the indictment seeking the death penalty, Underwood and Sims killed the men "for the purpose of receiving money and cell phones having monetary value."
Killed were Mateo Pais Gomez, Florindo Mauricio Pais, Jose Luiz Paez, Guadalupe Sanchez Cabello and Felipe Mauricio Esparza, all hit with a baseball bat or similar object on the head. Armando Martinez Perez was shot to death with a handgun. Some of their roommates were assaulted and robbed but survived.
Source: Macon.com
www.macon.com/mld/macon/news/politics/15007831.htm