Hourly Update

Man who held migrants at gunpoint won't be prosecuted

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas declined Wednesday to prosecute an Army reservist who acknowledged having held seven Mexican men at gunpoint at a southwestern Arizona rest stop. Sgt. Patrick Haab did not commit a crime and was making a lawful citizen's arrest when he detained six illegal immigrants and the man smuggling them, Thomas said at a news conference. Thomas said that after a complete analysis of the issues involved and the applicable law, "prosecution is not appropriate." The law and facts supported his decision that Haab had a valid defense, Thomas added. Haab, 24, was arrested April 10 by Maricopa County sheriff's deputies after an incident at a rest stop at Sentinel on Interstate 8. He said he drew a revolver that he was wearing legally in Arizona to stop six men who were rushing him, then ordered them and a seventh man from a vehicle and at gunpoint told them to lie face down on the ground. Haab, who returned from Iraq in October and has lived in Mesa since January, was released from the jail April 14 under $10,000 cash bond. He had been held on seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. The men gave authorities divergent accounts of what happened. Sheriff Joe Arpaio had said last week that Haab's story "doesn't pan out." Thomas' office said Arizona citizens have the right to make a citizen's arrest if either a federal or state felony offense has been committed in his presence or if a felony has been committed and the citizen has reasonable grounds to believe the person he intends to arrest has committed it. Thomas - a Republican who in campaigning last year promised a strong stand against illegal immigration - said Paul Charlton, U.S. Attorney for Arizona, has charged one of the seven men with engaging in human smuggling. The other six conspired with the alleged smuggler, or coyote - also felony conduct - Thomas said. Haab's use of a weapon to detain the men was reasonable under the circumstances, he said. "This is not a green light to intimidate, threaten, or detain anyone merely suspected of being in this country illegally," Thomas said. Presence in the country illegally is a crime but not necessarily a felony, "so other factors must be present in order to justify a citizen's arrest," he added. "In this case the other factor was the human smuggling."