State of Arizona v. Jason Eugene Bush


IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF ARIZONA STATE OF ARIZONA, Appellee, v. JASON EUGENE BUSH, Appellant. No. CR-11-0107-AP Filed August 16, 2018 Appeal from the Superior Court in Pima County The Honorable John S. Leonardo, Judge No. CR-2009-2300-003 AFFIRMED COUNSEL: Mark Brnovich, Arizona Attorney General, Dominic E. Draye, Solicitor General, Lacey Stover Gard (argued), Chief Counsel, Capital Litigation Section, Tucson, Attorneys for State of Arizona John L. Saccoman (argued), Law Office of John L. Saccoman, Phoenix; and Brent E. Graham, Law Office of Brent E. Graham, PLLC, Glendale, Attorneys for Jason Eugene Bush JUSTICE PELANDER authored the opinion of the Court, in which VICE CHIEF JUSTICE BRUTINEL, and JUSTICES TIMMER, BOLICK, and GOULD joined. CHIEF JUSTICE BALES authored a separate opinion STATE V. BUSH Opinion of the Court concurring in part. JUDGE WINTHROP authored a separate opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part. ∗ JUSTICE PELANDER, opinion of the Court: ¶1 This automatic appeal arises from Jason Eugene Bush’s convictions and death sentences for murdering nine-year-old Brisenia Flores and her father, Raul “Junior” Flores, in their Arivaca home. We have jurisdiction under article 6, section 5(3) of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. §§ 13-4031 and 13-4033(A)(1). BACKGROUND ¶2 The facts largely mirror those in State v. Forde, in which this Court affirmed the first degree murder convictions and death sentences of Shawna Forde, Bush’s accomplice and the “self-proclaimed leader of a private ‘minuteman’ border monitoring group” in which Bush participated. 233 Ariz. 543, 552 ¶ 2 (2014). On the evening of May 29, 2009, Junior Flores, his wife, Gina Gonzales, and their daughter, Brisenia, were at their home while the couple’s other daughter spent the night with a relative. After Junior and Gina went to bed, and as Brisenia slept on the living room couch, Junior woke Gina to tell her law enforcement officers were at their door. Gina rose from bed and joined Brisenia, who was still asleep on the couch, while Junior went to the door. ¶3 Gina heard two voices, a male and female, order Junior to open the door so they could enter to “take a look.” Junior complied, and a man and woman entered the Flores’s home. The man was tall, wore camouflage and black face paint, and carried a handgun and a longer gun covered with duct tape. Junior pressed the intruders for identification and asked the man why one gun was covered in duct tape. The man responded, “Don’t take this personally but this bullet has your name on it,” and shot Junior in the chest. The man then turned the handgun on Gina and shot her in the shoulder and thigh. After Gina fell to the floor, the man focused again ∗ Justice John R. Lopez IV has recused himself from this case. Pursuant to article 6, section 3 of the Arizona Constitution, the Honorable Lawrence F. Winthrop, Judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, was designated to sit in this matter. 2 STATE V. BUSH Opinion ...

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