SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KRON) — Santa Cruz County jurors acquired jury directions on Monday for a singular and surprising case involving a person who murdered eight-year-old Madyson “Maddy” Middleton a decade in the past.
Adrian “AJ” Gonzalez was 15 years outdated when he used ice cream to lure his younger neighbor into his mom’s condominium on the Tannery Arts Heart. The little woman fought again earlier than he strangled and stabbed her to dying in the summertime of 2015, the killer testified.
Gonzalez was later convicted of rape and homicide as a juvenile. The now-25-year-old man has served his full sentence, and in line with California’s juvenile justice legal guidelines, he’s supposed be launched from custody.
Gonzalez’s freedom, nonetheless, might be determined by 12 jurors. Their verdict has to reply one query: If he’s launched from custody, will Maddy’s assassin pose an “unreasonable risk of danger” to the general public? Within the deliberation room, jurors will vote to reply that query as “true,” to maintain him locked up, or “untrue” to grant freedom, in line with jury directions.
Adrian “AJ” Gonzalez (File Picture By Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle through Getty Photos)
For Gonzalez’s detention to be prolonged longer, all jurors should attain a unanimous “true” verdict, Decide Man defined. Their resolution facilities on what they imagine about Gonzalez’s “future dangerousness,” the choose mentioned.
The jury listened to 4 months of testimony from witnesses, together with a number of psychological well being professionals who evaluated the killer, earlier than a prosecutor rested her case on Monday afternoon. Gonzalez testified on the stand for eight days earlier than he was excused Monday morning.
Protection lawyer Charlie Stevens and Assistant District Legal professional Tara George will ship their closing arguments on Tuesday morning. Jurors will head into the deliberation room after closing arguments conclude.
Decide Man mentioned the jurors’ private bias and sympathy about individuals concerned within the case can’t be factored into their resolution. “The law demands that jurors make unbias decisions. Consider all the evidence that was received throughout the entire trial,” the choose mentioned.
Throughout the prolonged path, George was tasked with making an attempt to show past an affordable doubt that Gonzalez continues to be too harmful to be out in any group. She offered witnesses and proof to indicate that Gonzalez has a psychological or bodily situation, or dysfunction, that causes him to have issue controlling harmful behaviors and impulses.
Maddy Middleton’s killer lied to psychologist hoping for freedom, prosecutor says
Psychiatrists who testified for the trial disagreed about Gonzalez’s present psychological state. A psychiatrist referred to as by the protection concluded that Maddy’s killer is “on the lower end” of danger for reoffending, and he doesn’t have psychopathy. A health care provider referred to as to the stand by George discovered that he has “psychopathic traits,” and asserted good habits behind bars doesn’t essentially proceed as soon as an offender is launched from custody.
Madyson “Maddy” Middleton (Photographs through Santa Cruz Police Division)
Gonzalez was referred to as to the stand by his personal protection lawyer. He calmly and thoroughly answered lots of of questions on why he raped and killed Maddy.
“She was screaming, resisting. She was kicking her legs, trying to get up, and trying to fight back. I had my hand on her mouth and neck to choke her. I decided to kill Madyson because I wanted to hide what I had done to her,” Gonzalez informed jurors. “I knew that she was a person and she was suffering. I knew the decision I made … was because of my own self interest.”
He used a doll to display how he folded the unconscious woman right into a trash can and stabbed her within the neck to make sure she was useless.
Gonzalez testified that he has grow to be a much less manipulative particular person via years of remedy and intercourse offender remedy.
A few of Maddy’s members of the family and pals informed KRON4 that they need Gonzalez to stay locked as much as shield potential future victims. At a 2024 listening to, attorneys mentioned if Gonzalez was free of custody, he deliberate to stay in San Francisco and attend lessons on campus at San Francisco State College.
