Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete “is not an innocent man,” his attorney said during closing arguments in his client’s fourth murder trial.
“But he is not guilty of the crimes in this indictment,” defense attorney Jack Furlong said Thursday, referring to charges of murder, conspiracy and attempted murder.
That distinction was important for Negrete, who is accused of ordering the summer 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and the botched murder of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.
The state has tried for the better part of a decade to convict the Latin Kings leader, relying on some of the gang leader’s former henchmen who have testified against him. It believed it had succeeded in 2009 when a jury found Negrete guilty, only to see the appellate court later overturn an 80-year conviction because of jury misconduct.
In his closing, Deputy First Assistant Prosecutor Tom Meidt pointed to several late-night phone calls between Negrete and Dotson shortly before she was killed, saying the state believes Negrete was reassuring Dotson nothing was wrong after a beat-up Ruiz showed up at the Chestnut Street home they shared complaining how he was set up by the Latin Kings.
Meidt said the defendant was “sleepwalking” Dotson the same way his henchmen did Ruiz.
“She was a security threat,” Meidt said. “A threat that had to be eliminated.”
During his summation, Furlong attempted to tease out reasonable doubt in the mind of jurors by blaming others for the crimes, including former Netas leader Fernando Rivera. Rivera admitted ordering the beating of Ruiz after he defected to the Latin Kings and said he would have ordered Ruiz killed if not for his brother being a part of the Netas.
Furlong referred to Rivera as a “stone-blooded killer” and assailed the character of the few Latin Kings gang members who took the stand in this trial. Most openly refused to testify against Negrete; some feigned memory problems; other kept their mouths shuts even with the threat of contempt hanging over their heads.
Prosecutors supplemented the lack of witness cooperation by reading transcripts of Latin King gang members prior testimony, which pointed the finger at Negrete for ordering Dotson’s killing to ensure her silence after she witnessed the abduction of Ruiz.
Furlong told jurors they should discount transcript testimony because it deprived his client of his constitutional right to confront witnesses.
Furlong also focused on deposed Inca Roberto “Bam Bam” Rodriguez, saying his testimony was contrived so he could absolve himself of his culpability in the near-strangulation of Ruiz.
Rodriguez was sentenced to 10 years in state prison after he admitted wrapping a Christmas ribbon around Ruiz’s neck and choking him out until he and other gang members disposed of his body in a dumpster on Duck Island.
Furlong said Rodriguez did not strangle Ruiz on his client’s orders and that Rodriguez did it on his own volition. Furlong called it an “intentionally personal, angry attack.”
“He had a motive to lie and was willing to exercise it,” Furlong said, pointing out Rodriguez initially told police other Latin Kings were not involved and he acted alone. “He was prepared to lie under oath to get the benefit of a deal. He bargained for the truth. There is a bottom floor to that.”