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| Jason Bush Pool photo by Dean Knuth, Arizona Daily Star |
A Pima County Superior Court jury of four men and eight women has found Jason Eugene Bush guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in the May 30, 2009 deaths of Raul “Junior” Flores and his daughter, Brisenia, 9, at their home in Arivaca.
Bush, 36, was also found guilty of the attempted first-degree murder of Gina Marie Gonzalez; as well as of one count of burglary in the first-degree; one count of aggravated assault, serious physical injury; one count of aggravated assault, deadly weapon/dangerous instrument; one count of armed robbery; and one count of aggravated armed robbery.
Co-defendant Shawna Forde was recently convicted of all of these charges and was sentenced to death by a superior court jury.
The jury deliberated for two-and-a-half hours on Thursday without reaching a verdict and for a little over an hour on Friday before returning the guilty verdicts on the charges listed above. Most observers predicted the jury would deliberate for a short period of time before returning their guilty verdicts. The length of the deliberations caught many off guard since the defense had conceded his guilt and asked virtually no questions of witnesses.
Bush displayed no emotion, initially, staring straight ahead. Later, he sat at the defense table with his eyes closed.
The aggravation phase of the trial will begin at 1 p.m. today. If the jury finds the aggravators are proven then Bush will be eligible for the death penalty.
