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Sentenced to College - Chapter 12
The verdict
New here? Start from the beginning…
Hi bloggies. Just a quick word before I jump into Chapter 12. If you’ve heard me speak at any of the book events that Patty Wetterling and I have done over the past year and a half, you’ve probably heard me tell the story about why I started this blog. That was way back in 2010… almost 15 years ago now.
I started “Joy the Curious” because I was trying to figure out how to become a writer, and decided a blog would be a good way of holding my feet to the fire so I would stay committed to that goal. My first story was about an old, rundown beach house on Longboat Key, Florida… one that I’d been curious about for years. That initial curiosity led me to discover an epic story that involved bootlegging, Prohibition, orange juice, perfume-making, the Gambino brothers, and a young chemist from Germany who went on to become one of the richest men in America. (If you haven’t read my Villa am Meer story yet, you can find it here, free for all subscribers):
https://www.joythecurious.com/p/villa-am-meer-chapter-1
It was Villa am Meer that caused me to fall in love with blogging, and I ESPECIALLY loved how people were commenting and encouraging me along the way. Now that I’ve moved my blog to Substack, I haven’t received as many comments as I used to, and I MISS YOU! If you have thoughts or questions about my “Sentenced to College” story, please click the orange button that says “Leave a comment” at the end of the post and let me know you’re here!
As always, thanks for following along!
—Joy
January 26, 2000 – Closing arguments and the verdict
THE COURT:
This is Kandiyohi County District Court, Criminal Division. This is the third day of the State versus Angel Hernandez trial. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Before beginning final arguments, Judge Spilseth instructed the jury that there would be one more piece of evidence submitted in the case. The attorneys for both the prosecution and the defense had reached a compromise to allow a chart showing the abbreviated conviction records for certain local individuals alleged to be Latin King gang members. Angel’s attorney, John Holbrook, agreed to allow this chart as evidence rather than forcing the jury to sit through more time-consuming testimony for each individual conviction.
With that behind them, State Prosecutor Connie Crowell began her final argument. After some initial niceties, a brief explanation about the difference between direct evidence and circumstantial evidence, and a brief review of the witnesses’ accounts of what took place that day at JC Penney, Ms. Crowell got to the meat of her argument.
She referred to Officer Monson’s testimony about the list of local Latin King members whose convictions had now been abbreviated and consolidated onto a handy chart that would go with the jury to the deliberation room.
MS. CROWELL:
Officer Monson started to describe specific individuals and testified to their activities, to their criteria, and to their convictions, and he started with Mr. L.D.
That Mr. L.D. is a confirmed, state-entered Latin King member, that he has a controlled substance second degree crime, methamphetamine; second degree felony assault; fourth degree felony assault; second degree felony assault, dangerous weapon, and a third degree controlled substance crime, cocaine; that he's confirmed and, indeed, had been, until he went to Worthington, a leader of the Latin Kings.
That Mr. J.M. has several felonies, including robbery, burglary.
That Mr. F.J. has controlled substance crimes, burglary, certain people not to have pistols, weapons violation, burglary.
Mr. J.P., second degree felony assault.
And Mr. Hernandez, receiving stolen property, firearms.
All confirmed, state-entered members of the Latin Kings and that, indeed, when Mr. L.D. moved out of town, the defendant stepped in to that leadership role. He stepped in and took over.
Defense Attorney John Holbrook objected to the assumption that Angel had taken over as leader, but the objection was overruled.