Latin Kings leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete was convicted Thursday for his role in the summer 2004 slaying of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz, drawing a presumed close to a case that spanned more than a decade and required several jury panels to decide a verdict.
Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete
Security was tight with a dozen sheriff officers on hand as Dotson’s family and several members of the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, including Acting Prosecutor Angelo Onofri, crammed inside the Mercer County courtroom to listen as a jury of eight women and four men who had deliberated for three days returned guilty verdicts to counts of conspiracy, murder and attempted murder against Negrete, the Latin Kings Inca who was on trial for the fourth time for ordering the killing of Dotson to ensure her silence.
The jury also agreed Negrete was guilty of attempted murder related to the near-strangulation of Ruiz, who was ordered handed over by Negrete to the rival Ñetas after his defection to the Latin Kings sparked a war between the factions.
Linda Dotson, the victim’s mother, gasped and embraced a family member as the jury foreman read the guilty verdict. It was a moment the family had lived in 2009 when Negrete was convicted on all charges only to see the appellate court overturn an 80-year sentence because of jury misconduct. They left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
Negrete remained seated next to his attorney, Jack Furlong, as the verdict was read. Furlong said after the verdict was read he would file a motion for a new trial which will delay sentencing. Judge Pedro Jimenez revoked Negrete’s $2 million bail and set a hearing on the new trial motion for May 29.
If the motion is denied, Furlong plans to appeal. Read more
TRENTON >> The attorney for a Latin Kings leader on trial for murder did not step foot in a Mercer County courtroom Wednesday, leaving the reins to his young, baby-faced associate, Andrew Ferencevych.
In retrospect, it was as good an indication as any that no verdict was coming in the fourth murder trial of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who is accused of ordering the 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt on gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.
The 12-member panel, which received the case Tuesday, was locked in deliberations most of Wednesday, breaking only for lunch. Jurors resume deliberations Thursday morning.
Prosecutors have tried in vain for more than a decade to convict Negrete, who was portrayed at trial as a ruthless leader whose goal was to grow the Trenton tribe of the Latin Kings from a feeble, loosely associated organization into a feared street gang.Read more
TRENTON >> Jurors began deliberations in the fourth murder trial of Latin Kings leader Jose Negrete but broke for the day without reaching a verdict.
The 12-member panel, which will decide whether it believes Negrete ordered the 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt on gang turncoat Alex Ruiz, was handed the case Tuesday after being charged on the law.
Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete
Judge Pedro Jimenez’s courtroom was devoid of any action for much of the day. Members of Negrete’s family were perched outside the courtroom for part of the day waiting for any indication of a verdict, but it never came. Jimenez dismissed jurors around 4 p.m. and ordered them to return to court Wednesday morning to resume deliberations.Read more
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.
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Standing tall before the judge in his pea-colored suit, his hands nestled inside his pockets, Latin King leader Jose Negrete told the court Wednesday he would not testify in his fourth murder trial.
“I’m going to let him run the show,” said Negrete, referring to his attorney, Jack Furlong. Furlong advised his client against taking the stand.
And with that, summations begin Thursday afternoon, and the jury will begin deliberating next week whether Negrete ordered the August 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt on gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.
Negrete testified at past trials but said he arrived at his decision not to testify this time around after consulting with Furlong. Moments before Negrete announced his decision, Furlong playfully threatened to sic his client’s mother on him if he changed his mind.
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A Trenton man has been indicted in connection with the 2006 murder of 27-year-old Kevin Thomas.
According to prosecutors in the case, Thomas, of Hamilton, was shot and killed around 4 a.m. on September 3, 2006. He was a passenger in a car that was stopped at a red light at the corner of East State and Chambers streets when a dark-colored SUV pulled up beside him. Someone inside the SUV then fired several shots at the other vehicle, according to prosecutors. Read more
Four Liberian men accused in the execution-style slaying of Liberian immigrant and U.S. Army veteran Dardar Paye rejected final plea offers from prosecutors calling for 30-year sentences for murder and will be tried together next year, a judge said Tuesday. Read more
Latin King gang members who testified against their leader couldn’t get his nickname right, let alone a story they gave prosecutors about how they carried out his orders to murder fellow gang members, the defendant said at a past trial.
Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete
A jury Thursday heard previous testimony of Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete, who is on trial a fourth time for ordering the murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and a botched attempt on the life of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.
In his previous testimony, Negrete said his nickname is “Boom Bap,” a moniker he earned as teenager by beating up a bully. Boom Bap are words that appear in cartoon sound clouds when Batman finishes his opponents, the defendant said.
But Negrete denied ordering his henchmen to “finish” Ruiz or Dotson after she witnessed several gang members lure her platonic roommate away from the Chestnut Street home they shared Aug. 30, 2004.
“I’m not a coward,” Negrete previously testified when asked by his former attorney if he ordered Dotson killed. “That’s some coward s–.” Read more
They came here to see testimony from witnesses implicating a Latin Kings leader for ordering the brutal 2004 murder of a gang “queen” and attempted murder of a gang turncoat.
But the troupe of high school students in attendance at Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete’s fourth murder trial was forced to settle for the disemboweled voice of Latin Kings gang member Rhadames “Havy” Acosta, played by a detective in the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
Detective Roberto Reyes took the stand once again Tuesday in place of Acosta, who last week said under the threat of contempt he would not testify against Negrete for ordering the execution-style murder of Jeri Lynn Dotson to ensure her silence after she witnessed several gang members lure gang turncoat Alex Ruiz from the Chestnut Avenue home they shared.
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Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete’s fourth murder trial isn’t over, and his attorney already raised the specter of a fifth trial Thursday when he renewed concerns his client’s constitutional rights are being trampled so the state can get its so-far elusive conviction.
Safe to say those issues will form the basis of a future appeal attorney Jack Furlong will file on behalf of the Latin Kings leader, who is accused of ordering the 2004 murder of gang “queen” Jeri Lynn Dotson and botched murder attempt of gang turncoat Alex Ruiz.
Negrete has already had an 80-year sentence overturned by the appellate court because of jury misconduct.
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