American Scene

ARIZONA

Border activist guilty in deadly home invasion

TUCSON | The leader of an anti-illegal-immigrant group was convicted Monday in a home invasion that left a 9-year-old girl and her father dead in what prosecutors said was an attempt to steal drug money to fund the group’s operations.

A jury found Shawna Forde, 42, guilty of murder in the May 2009 killings of Raul Flores, 29, and his daughter Brisenia at their home in Arivaca, a desert community 10 miles north of Mexico.

The jurors deliberated for seven hours over two days, the Arizona Daily Star reported. The jury will return to Pima County Superior Court on Tuesday to decide if the death penalty should be considered.

Forde pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and other charges stemming from the home invasion.

CALIFORNIA

Former candidate sentenced to prison

SANTA ANA | A former California congressional candidate accused of sending a mailer to Hispanic voters in 2006 warning that immigrants could not vote was sentenced Monday to a year and a day in prison for obstruction of justice.

Tan Nguyen, a Republican who was running for Congress in Orange County, will also serve six months in a residential re-entry program and three years of supervised release, federal prosecutor Greg Staples said.

Nguyen declined to comment on the hearing before U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter except to say it didn’t go well.

He will start serving his term March 28.

MONTANA

Judge: Yellowstone bison slaughter can proceed

BILLINGS | A judge says he will not stop the slaughter of potentially hundreds of wild bison from Yellowstone National Park that had attempted to migrate into Montana.

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