A former border vigilante is now awaiting sentencing after a jury convicted him of sex crimes against children Wednesday.
Chris Simcox was convicted on two counts of child molestation, and one count of furnishing pornography to a minor. But he was found not guilty on three counts of sexual conduct with a child.
The acquittals are significant because those charges stemmed from accusations that Simcox had sexually abused his own young daughter. The guilty verdicts were for acts against one of her friends.
Simcox is a founder of the Minuteman movement, an anti-illegal immigration group that charged Arizona’s southern border about a decade ago, and a former candidate for U.S. Senate.
He represented himself during the trial. Attorney Kerrie Droban served as his advisory counsel.
“You know, I think he was very philosophical about it. He was relieved that they came back and acquitted him on the charges against his daughter. From the beginning he has always maintained his innocence,” Droban said.
Droban says she thinks Simcox did get a fair trial. She says he did well in the courtroom, but might have done better with a lawyer.
“There are certainly lots of legal landmines involved in cases like this that he certainly was not privy to, and I helped him as much as I could through that,” Droban said. “But at the end of the day, it was his case and he called the shots.”
Droban said that while the acquittals are significant, Simcox will likely never get out of prison due to his age and mandatory sentencing guidelines in Arizona.
Simcox is scheduled to be sentenced on July 5.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
