SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KRON) — Adrian Gonzalez spent years carrying masks to cowl up who he actually was, a Santa Cruz County prosecutor mentioned in her closing arguments Tuesday.
On July 26, 2015, he took his masks off, Assistant District Legal professional Tara George instructed a jury. “That 15 years old (boy) committed one of the most horrendous crimes this county has ever experienced. And then he put those masks back on,” the prosecutor instructed jurors.
On a big display within the courtroom, George displayed Madyson “Maddy” Middleton’s faculty {photograph}. As jurors seemed up on the smiling 8-year-old woman with pink hair and freckles, George mentioned, “This young girl might be the only person who has ever seen the real true Adrian. Because for 55 minutes that day, he took off his mask. For 55 minutes that day, he was the truest version of himself.”
Madyson “Maddy” Middleton (Photograph through Santa Cruz Police Division)
Gonzalez raped and murdered Maddy inside his house. On Tuesday, attorneys delivered closing arguments for a trial that may decide if he’s let loose. Jurors started deliberating to determine if the convicted killer continues to be too harmful to be launched after spending a decade in custody.
For his trial, Gonzalez testified on the stand for eight days. George mentioned the killer’s testimony was riddled with lies.
For his closing arguments, protection legal professional Charlie Stevens instructed jurors that Gonzalez determined to take the stand as a result of he needed to indicate them that he is now individual. By years of rehabilitation applications and remedy, the now-25-year-old man is not a depressed and suicidal teenager who did not care about himself nor anybody else.
The prosecutor instructed jurors that Gonzalez wore a “mask” on the stand that was “meant to trick us into believing he’s safe … into believing he’s rehabilitated.” She declared, “We have no clue who Adrian Gonzalez really is. He’s deceived every single person he’s ever come into contact with. He knows it, he prides himself on it, he relishes in it. Adrian Gonzalez is the ultimate chameleon.”
Adrian “AJ” Gonzalez (File Photograph By Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle through Getty Photographs)
“Is he safe to walk out that door? He has serious difficulty controlling dangerous behavior. He is dangerous,” George mentioned.
Maddy and Gonzalez lived in the identical house advanced on the Tannery Arts Middle in Santa Cruz. She trusted Gonzalez as a result of he was her neighbor and camp counselor on the Tannery’s youth camp, in accordance with testimony. Gonzalez lured Maddy as much as his house with ice cream as a result of he needed to have “sex” with the sufferer, he admitted on the stand. The killer testified that the 8-year-old woman fought again as he grabbed her, strangled Maddy on his mattress, and sexually assaulted her. He mentioned he performed music whereas he folded Maddy right into a trash can and stabbed her within the neck thrice.
Knowledgeable witnesses, together with psychiatrists who evaluated Gonzalez’s psychological state and threat of reoffending, testified over the course of 4 months. Specialists referred to as by the prosecution mentioned Gonzalez is a psychopath. The protection’s specialists mentioned he doesn’t classify as a psychopath and he has a low threat of reoffending.
Prosecutor Tara George’s closing arguments
George displayed a chart with 18 the reason why she believes Gonzalez continues to be a harmful, sexually sadistic individual. The primary purpose targeted on motive.
“Why Madyson? He told us he needed to pick somebody he could overpower. What was Adrian Gonzalez attracted to? Young, tiny, redheads. That little girl had no idea what was coming. He wanted her to suffer. We know he was influenced by porn and by serial killers. He placed that girl in the trash. He stabs her in that trash can not once, not twice, three times.”
Gonzalez handed out lacking individual fliers and joined a search effort as group members frantically tried to search out the lacking woman.
Madyson “Maddy” Middleton
George performed surveillance video within the courtroom displaying Gonzalez carrying the trash can downstairs to a recycling dumpster within the Tannery. She additionally performed a police interrogation tape when Santa Cruz police detectives confronted him with sufficient damning proof for the teenager to admit.
George listed six instances Gonzalez modified his motive behind the homicide. First, he instructed police that he did not know why. Second, he mentioned he was searching for consideration. Third, he needed to search out out if he needed to “courage” to do it. Fourth, he was curious to see how individuals would react. Fifth, he wanted to do one thing so horrible that it will be simpler to kill himself. Sixth, he had a sexual urge and killed Maddy to not get caught for sexually assaulting her.
Out of the six motives instructed by Gonzalez through the years, solely the primary is sensible, the prosecutor mentioned. “He still doesn’t know why,” she mentioned.
Another excuse why Gonzalez continues to be harmful, in accordance with George, is his lack of empathy and regret. “He told you he hasn’t shed one tear,” she mentioned.
The prosecutor motioned to the courtroom gallery and mentioned, “Everybody in this room has shed tears about what happened. The community has cried. Adrian? Not a tear. The person we are concerned about is sitting in the front row (Maddy’s mother).” George mentioned Gonzalez is the one one that would not care about how Maddy’s mom feels.
George mentioned if Gonzalez is launched, he would not have any help community. The one member of the family in his life, his mom, is an “enabler,” the prosecutor mentioned. Most of his mates are intercourse offenders who Gonzalez befriended in custody, the killer admitted on the stand.
If the jury grants Gonzalez’s freedom, he will probably be solely unsupervised. “He could be anywhere. With freedom he will have nothing: No structure, no restrictions, no mandated counseling, no monitoring. There’s nobody to check on him,” George instructed jurors.
Remedy applications in juvenile detention facilities had no thought find out how to take care of somebody like Gonzalez as a result of “he’s one-of-one,” the prosecutor mentioned. “He is so unique, there’s not even a risk assessment tool that is applicable to him. He did do some work, that’s great. He didn’t do enough. The inadequacy of this treatment makes him dangerous,” she mentioned.
Specialists who testified for the protection had been additionally insufficient as a result of they based mostly their threat assessments on “self-reporting” from Gonzalez, George mentioned.
The prosecutor concluded her closing arguments by telling the jury, “You are the experts now. You got to see and watch as he processed this crime (on the stand) for the very first time. Secrets, callous, lack of empathy — that’s all innate in him. He hid who he was (in 2015, and he’s hiding who he is now. Those masks are still there.”
Mourners go away flowers and pay their respects on the Tannery Arts Middle on July 28, 2015, in Santa Cruz. (AP Photograph/Ben Margot)
Protection legal professional Charlie Stevens’ closing arguments
Stevens started his closing arguments by acknowledging his consumer’s crime was “terrible” and “unthinkable.” He instructed jurors that their job is to succeed in a verdict based mostly on months of testimony and California’s juvenile justice legal guidelines. Anybody who’s 15 years previous, or youthful, on the time of their crime needs to be launched from custody once they flip 25, whatever the severity of their crime.
To deal with Maddy’s demise, group members use labels for the offender like “monster and demon,” Stevens mentioned. California regulation has developed to maintain up with analysis on neurological improvement. Older research discovered that the mind reached maturity for determination making at age 18. However newer research raised the age to 25, he mentioned.
“We are not in a time of lynch mobs. We have the rule of law. California is keeping up with what we know about neurological development. That’s why we are all here, and you took an oath to apply the laws of California. We believe there’s the possibility of rehabilitation. This is important … that’s the presumption,” Stevens mentioned.
What triggered a 15-year-old boy to homicide an 8-year-old woman? “It’s a myriad of issues. Adrian’s upbringing, or lack thereof … being left overnight not knowing when his mother would come back. In 2015, we had a very depressed, suicidal young man. He was grappling with ideas,” Stevens mentioned.
Gonzalez was candid, considerate, and trustworthy when he testified for the jury, the protection asserted. “He told you, I did not like myself during that time. I did not care about myself, and I did not care about others. He did a terrible thing,” Stevens mentioned.
Ever since he pleaded responsible in juvenile courtroom, Gonzalez has labored arduous in custody to alter and turn into a greater individual, Stevens mentioned. “People can learn cognitive empathy,” he asserted.
The protection legal professional mentioned Gonzalez was no “mastermind.” Whereas cops had been looking for Maddy, her killer frolicked subsequent to the identical dumpsters the place he hid her physique.
“This was a scared kid, not a mastermind. He did the stupidest thing you could do. He hung out by the dumpsters and that drew attention to him,” Stevens mentioned.
Gonzalez is perceived by some specialists as missing empathy as a result of he has autism, the legal professional mentioned. He added, “You saw the way he speaks. He comes across as very, well, flat. Every time he’s asked a question, he has to pause and look in the air in an awkward way before he answers. Because that’s who he is.”
Jurors heard from Gonzalez instantly greater than “pretty much anyone else. You have to get inside Adrian’s head. Is he hiding a psychopath inside?” Stevens requested the jury.
By cognitive behavioral remedy, and continued mind improvement with age, Gonzalez is a special individual at present, Stevens mentioned.
If the jury’s verdict grants freedom, Gonzalez will go to varsity, discover a job, and reside in all-male transitional housing, in accordance with the protection. He is not going to return to the Tannery to reside together with his mom in an house advanced the place many kids reside.
Stevens continued, “There will be no formal supervision. There won’t be someone following Adrian around. But law enforcement will know where Adrian is.”
Within the fingers of the jury
Jurors deliberated for an hour on Monday. Their verdict has to reply one query: If launched from custody, will Maddy’s assassin pose an “unreasonable risk of danger” to the general public? Jurors will vote to reply that query as “true,” to maintain him locked up, or “untrue” to grant freedom, in accordance with jury directions.
Choose Denine Man mentioned the jurors’ private bias and sympathy about individuals concerned within the case can’t be factored into their determination. “The law demands that jurors make unbias decisions. Consider all the evidence that was received throughout the entire trial,” the decide mentioned. Their determination relies on what they imagine about Gonzalez’s “future dangerousness,” the decide added.
If the jury returns with a “true” verdict, Gonzalez will stay in custody and he will probably be eligible for a brand new trial each two years.
The jury will resume deliberating on Thursday.
