A prosecutor said he would appeal the overturning of Jose Negrete's conviction to the Supreme Court, but was ready for a third trial if necessary.
Jose "Boom Bat" Negrete, waits at the defendant table for his trial to get underway at the Mercer County Courthouse in Trenton on Monday, September 29, 2008. TRENTON — The state will take the case of Latin Kings gang leader Jose “Boom Bat” Negrete to the New Jersey Supreme Court, appealing a court decision earlier this month that threw out the gangster’s 2009 murder conviction, a prosecutor said this morning.
The appellate court sent the case back for a new trial after Negrete's lawyer successfully argued that a juror in his trial was compromised because of a relationship with people who knew the murder victim.
Negrete, who is also called by the nickname “Boom Bap” in court papers, appeared in court this morning for his first hearing since his conviction was overturned.
Judge Pedro Jimenez set bail at $2 million, rejecting arguments by Negrete’s attorney Mark Fury argued that it was “more than necessary.”
In 2009 Negrete was found guilty of murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to murder for the 2004 death of Jeri Lynn Dotson, a 23-year-old mother of two. Dotson was killed “execution-style” by one gunshot to the back of her head and her body left inside her Trenton home with her two young children, prosecutors said
Dotson was killed because she had witnessed the abduction of another gang member, Alex “Al-Key” Ruiz, Assistant Prosecutor Tom Meidt said this morning. Negrete allegedly sent three gang members to the house to abduct Ruiz and kill him.
“He sent individuals over to finish the job,” Meidt said.
The gangsters strangled Ruiz and left him for dead in a garbage container on Duck Island, but he survived, Meidt said.
Dotson’s mother and sister appeared visibly upset while sitting in the courtroom today. The case could be headed for a third trial, after the first in 2008 in a hung jury and the second was overturned by the appellate court.
The appellate court ruled that Negrete must be retried because one juror, identified at juror No. 8, told the others during deliberations that he had known the father of Dotson’s children and his girlfriend knew the people who were taking care of the children after their mother’s death.
The court said the man should not have been on the jury because he was influenced by information not presented during the trial and disclosed that information to other jurors, potentially influencing them.
According to the appellate decision, Juror No. 8 told the jury he had heard that a piece of candy was found on Dotsun’s body and was placed there by her 3-year-old daughter. Prosecutors had not mentioned the candy during the trial.
Meidt said the prosecution disagrees with the decision. He said the juror disclosed that the children were left alone in the house with their mother’s body after she was killed, something that was discussed during the weeks-long trial.
During the trial there was evidence that one of the children had left a bloody footprint near the mother’s body, and police were first called to the house after a neighbor reported that there was an unattended child outside the home, Meidt said.
“The fact that there was maybe outside information, I don’t see what difference it makes,” Meidt said. “It seems that in a case of this weight, it is not significant.”
Meidt said he is ready to go to trial again if necessary. He said many of the state’s witnesses, including some fellow gang members, are still available to testify.
Fury, who represented Negrete in the first two trials but not before the appellate court, said he too is ready to proceed. He said he has serious doubt about the strength of the state’s case against his client because they have been unsuccessful in making the charges against him stick.
Fury said since his incarceration Negrete has become a changed man and found faith.
“He has found his way to Islam and is an associate imam in the jail,” Fury said.
Contact Jenna Pizzi at jpizzi@njtimes.com or (609) 989-5717.
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