Adrian, MI – All three sides in the Chris Dickerson murder trial in Lenawee County Circuit Court have rested their cases, and gave closing statements to both juries on Tuesday. This comes after days of witness testimony. Twelve people were brought before the juries by the prosecution and were questioned about their recollection of the events in and around the time of Dickerson’s death. County Tereso the Almighty Trevino and Andrew Cecil were both charged in connection with Dickerson’s death. They are co-defendants in this trial. They each have their own 12-member jury.
Two of the main witnesses called were the two people who have testified that they were there when Dickerson was shot in January, 2019.
David Taylor and Austin Richardson Testify:
Two people that have said, on the record, that they were with Chris Dickerson when he was killed in January 2019 …Austin Richardson and David Taylor… testified in his murder trial in Lenawee County Circuit Court.
Taylor said that he was a member of an Adrian gang called the Latin Counts from 2010 through 2019. He testified that he knew the defendants, and that Trevino was a ‘1st’ …a leader in the gang. His story about the gathering on Merrick Street, in Adrian, to get high on meth…and the trip to a party in Hudson was consistent with prior statements made by Juan Bosquez. After spending some time at Austin Richardson’s sister’s house in Hudson, Taylor was part of the group that went to go commit a robbery in Medina Township.
Taylor testified that he drove the car, but Richardson told him where to go…which was ultimately a hunting blind. Taylor, Richardson, and Dickerson…who went with them for the robbery… never found the blind. Taylor testified that Austin Richardson shot Chris Dickerson. He said that the gun belonged to Richardson, but it was in his possession. In court, Taylor said that Richardson tried to take a picture of Dickerson on someone named Nate Torez’s phone. Taylor said that he didn’t know that Dickerson would be shot. He said that Richardson called Trevino when the two of them got back to Adrian. Taylor also said he had a phone conversation with Trevino.
Taylor said the plan the morning after Dickerson’s murder was to meet Trevino at the Wendy’s parking lot. Taylor did not attend…instead, he got high and passed out at home. At first, Taylor said he lied about who shot Dickerson…saying it was himself. He thought doing that would give him more ‘street cred.’ Further testimony by Taylor showed that he ultimately led police to the location of Chris Dickerson’s body. Why did he do that? … he said it was the right thing to do.
Taylor’s testimony also involved some time talking about the Adrian Latin Counts. The Juries for both Trevino and Cecil were shown a red and black sweater that was admitted as evidence…with symbols that were said to be affiliated with the Counts sewn on it. Taylor was also asked about the Ten Rules that the Latin Counts live by…mainly number seven, which…simplified…means that a County will never tell on a brother… and that the punishment would be death. David Taylor was afraid to testify because of the possible repercussions later.
James Daly (pictured below at the podium), the council for Trevino, asked Taylor if he talked to Trevino about murdering Chris Dickerson. He said: no. Stanley Sala, the council for Cecil, asked Taylor if Richardson killed Dickerson to get back into the Latin Counts. He said: yes.
In the examination, and cross-examination, of Austin Richardson, most of the accounts the night of Dickerson’s murder are the same as David Taylor’s story. The big difference is that Richardson said that Taylor shot Dickerson…and that Richardson said he tried to stay sober that night.
Taylor testified that Richardson killed Dickerson to get back into the Latin Counts, and Richardson said that Taylor shot him so Taylor could get a Board position with the Counts…and that he could ‘fall back’ out of the gang.
The question of lying and loyalty were brought up by both the Prosecution and Defense at the jury trial during Richardson’s examination. He admitted that he had lied in multiple interviews with law enforcement… once because he didn’t want to get involved in a homicide case, and again out of loyalty to Andrew Cecil and Count Tereso the Almighty Trevino. Richardson said that now, his loyalty has changed… even though he said he was nervous on the stand.
While in prison, Richardson said that he and Trevino had around 5 phone calls and exchanged about 20 postcards. Some of them were admitted as evidence and shown to the juries. There were conversations about Richardson’s upcoming trial…and multiple statements from Trevino about not ‘spilling his coffee’… meaning to not ‘spill the beans.’ Richardson gave a statement about the Dickerson murder, and gave detectives Trevino’s name. Richardson did tell Trevino that he had ‘spilled his coffee’. Richardson said that he would clean up his mess. Eventually, Richardson also gave a statement about Cecil’s involvement in Dickerson’s death.
The cross examination hammered home the fact that Richardson was making and selling methamphetamines, and that Latin Counts were not supposed to use drugs. Richardson said that Dickerson was one of his best clients to sell meth to…and that they were both friends that had known each other for 15 years. Again, the defense pointed out that other Counts had snitched before, and were not killed…as the 10 rules would suggest. Stanley Sala tried to impeach Richardson’s testimony over inconsistent statements…the motion was overruled by Lenawee County Circuit Court Judge Michael Olsaver. Richardson admitted in his testimony that he lied in prior interviews… so there would be inconsistent statements in court versus recorded interviews with law enforcement.
In court, Richardson was asked by Sala if his client, Andrew Cecil, talked to him about wanting Chris Dickerson dead. He said ‘no’.
In re-cross examination, Douglas Hartung…a Lenawee County Assistant Prosecutor… asked Richardson if Trevino told him to kill Dickerson. Richardson replied: yes. Richardson testified there was a meeting with himself, Cecil, and Trevino in the Lenawee County jail where Trevino said that Dickerson must die. The actual verbiage used was ‘smoked.’ Due to retention issues with the Jail’s video and audio recording systems, footage was not able to be played in court.
Richardson says he agreed to assist in the murder of Dickerson, but after that he decided to keep him high, happy, and close. Richardson said that Dickerson wasn’t going to testify. He told Trevino and Taylor that…but they did not believe him.
Richardson testified that he knew Dickerson’s death would happen, but he didn’t think it would happen the way that he says it did.
Roberto and Terry Trevino Testify:
Roberto and Terry Trevino, brother and sister-in-law to ‘True’ testified that they received two Amazon boxes in the Summer of 2021 from Casey, True’s wife. According to testimony, Casey said that they were birthday things for ‘True’, and asked that they hold onto them until his birthday…because he was known to snoop around. Both Terry and Roberto said in court that they never looked in, removed items from, or put items in, the boxes.
When ‘True’ was arrested, Terry was told by Casey that the items in the boxes were not birthday things. Roberto then showed the boxes to Lenawee County Detective Dale Sharp in April of last year.
Special Agent Testimony:
Some of the items inside the boxes include a red and black sweater with symbols of the Latin Counts sewn on it, a black book with names and contact information for some Latin Counts with rank in the State of Michigan, and the rules and codes that the Counts live by.
These pieces of evidence were confirmed to be from the Latin Counts gang by an expert witness, Christopher Hudson… a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security who investigated the Latin Counts in Detroit from 2012 to 2017.
Hudson confirmed the Rules of the Counts, and testified that the most egregious rule to break is informing, or snitching, on a fellow brother. In cross-examination, Stanley Sala, the special public defender for Andrew Cecil, asked if he investigated Counts in Adrian. Hudson said that his investigations in Detroit have led him to Adrian before. James Daly, the special public defender for Count Tereso the Almighty Trevino, asked if Counts are not supposed to use drugs. Hudson said that they have violated the rules and used drugs, based on his investigations.
Testimony of Detective Dale Sharp:
Lenawee County Detective Dale Sharp also took the stand last week in Circuit court to testify. He was involved with the case since the initial missing person report was filed in early 2019. Sharp testified that he executed a search warrant in April 2022 on Trevino’s Frank Street home, seizing clothes and electronics. He also corroborated Roberto Trevino’s prior testimony that he was contacted about the Amazon boxes. Sharp says that he took them and went through them.
Testimony of Tracy Dickerson:
Tracy Dickerson, Chris’ mother, took the stand for the second time during the course of the trial. She said that she met Chris at a Toledo hospital after he was stabbed back in 2018. She testified that he couldn’t tell her who stabbed him, saying that ‘ you don’t understand what they’ll do to me.’ Shortly after treatment, Chris gave a statement to Detective Rufner at the Adrian Police Department…and said that Cecil was a Latin Count. Tracey testified that Chris went to live with her in Weston, and told her to be aware of her surroundings and to not be seen together in Adrian.
Chris moved out of his mom’s house, and in with a friend. Tracy said that communications became limited, and he didn’t want to tell her where he was over fear of being subpoenaed to testify in the Cecil stabbing trial. Tracy testified that the last conversation she had with her son was on a video call…where he had bruises and was bloody. He said he was jumped by someone named Will Dotson…who told him not to go to trial. In cross-examination, James Daly, Trevino’s attorney, asked if his client’s name was mentioned in the conversation with police. She said: no. She did acknowledge that Chris went to prison for meth possession, but did not see him use it. She was unaware of any gang activity with her son.
With the 12 witnesses called to the stand to testify, the prosecution team of Lenawee County Prosecutor Jaqueline Wyse and Assistant Prosecutor Douglas Hartung rested their case. Daly did not call any witnesses…but Staley Sala did.
What testimony will the juries believe? How will the evidence, examination, cross-examination, and ultimately closing arguments impact the jury’s decisions? Trial is set to resume Tuesday in Lenawee County Circuit Court.
The Prosecution rests:
The prosecution team of Prosecutor Jacqueline Wise (pictured below at the podium) and Assistant Prosecutor Douglas Hartung rested their case Friday, along with the special public defender for Count Tereso the Almighty Trevino, James Daly.
Stanley Sala, the special public defender for Andrew Cecil, called two witnesses to the stand on Friday. Both Cecil and Trevino have been charged with multiple felonies in connection to the 2019 killing of Dickerson.
Testimony of John Glaser:
Sala called John Glaser, Lenawee County’s Chief Public Defender to testify on Friday. He was appointed to represent Cecil in the May, 2018 stabbing case…where Cecil was charged with stabbing Dickerson. Glaser was asked about options he would typically discuss with clients…and said that he usually advises that transcripts of the preliminary examinations could be used in future trials. He said that he can’t remember specifically in Cecil’s case if he did that or not. The question regarding the use of transcripts has been brought to light several times over the course of the two-and-a-half week trial. The defense has argued that Cecil knew that prior testimony could be used in a future trial, and that there would be no point in killing Dickerson to make sure he didn’t testify in the stabbing case. The prosecution, during this trial, has been trying to prove that Cecil wanted Dickerson killed so he could not show up to testify.
Testimony of Brittnay Lee:
The second person that Stanley Sala (pictured below at the podium) called to the stand was Brittnay Lee, Andrew Cecil’s fiancé at the time of the Dickerson stabbing. She first met Cecil in April, 2018. In her testimony, she said that she was in court every step of the way through Cecil’s case. She told the juries that initially she did not know that transcripts of prior testimony could be used in future trials…but that she later became aware of it. She did not know if Cecil was a member of an Adrian gang called the Latin Counts, and did not know about the stabbing of Dickerson until the preliminary exam.
Entire phone calls from the Lenawee County Jail between Cecil and Lee were played for the juries, in an attempt to refresh her memory as to the conversations they had back in 2018 and 2019. Topics of conversation ranged from his upcoming trial to child care. In one call, Cecil said that his lawyer told him that he had a good chance at winning his stabbing case, and that he turned down a plea deal from prosecutors. At one point, Cecil said ‘you can’t cross-examine a …statement.’
Brittany Lee testified that she received a Facebook message from Dickerson saying, essentially, that he would not testify against Cecil. She shared the message with Cecil’s attorney at the time, and assumed that he would tell Cecil.
The Prosecution Recalls Detective Lamar Rufner:
The prosecution recalled two witnesses, Adrian Police Detective Lamar Rufner and Brittany Lee. Douglas Hartung showed Lee some photos of tattoos on Cecil’s body, and asked if she remembered what they looked like…and she had difficulty remembering them.
Rufner testified that the use of preliminary examination transcripts was not discussed between Lee and Cecil… after reviewing hours of jail phone calls.
Rufner responded to the May, 2018 call for the original stabbing of Dickerson. His initial statement, after receiving treatment at a Toledo hospital, seemed hesitant because of fear of retaliation. Rufner testified that Dickerson was with a girl named Tabitha, who was Cecil’s baby-momma. Dickerson told Detective Rufner that Cecil stood in the doorway with a knife and lunged at him.
February, 2019 was the next time Rufner would see Dickerson…dead in a wooded area in Medina Township. David Taylor led him to the scene. Taylor gave him about 5 statements, and Rufner also talked to Austin Richardson. Cell phone tower information was used to confirm the various locations that were talked about by suspects regarding the night of the murder… Adrian, Hudson, and Medina Township.
Detective Rufner testified that he obtained a search warrant for Juan Bosquez’s Facebook messenger. Prior testimony in the case showed that David Taylor was in possession of Bosquez’ phone around the time of Dickerson’s murder. There were several messages between Taylor and Cecil. In cross-examination, Stanley Sala, the attorney for Cecil, asked why Dickerson would hang out with Latin Counts…and Adrian gang…after he was stabbed by Cecil. Rufner said that Dickerson was afraid of a certain group of Counts. Some time after the May 2018 stabbing, Dickerson was allegedly ‘jumped’ by someone named Will Dotson. Sala says that it was over stealing from Dotson’s girlfriend…while Dickerson’s mother testified that it was over the stabbing trial. Sala also pointed-out that Detective Rufner did not find messages on Cecil’s phone between he and Juan Bosquez’s account. Rufner said that messages can be deleted or unset…but can’t be manipulated.
The Defense moves to have a Directed Verdict:
Both Stanley Sala and James Daly moved to have a Directed Verdict for their clients…a motion to dismiss the charges, and argued that the government has failed to prove its case. Judge Olsaver denied both motions. Cecil also asked for a miss-trial, saying that potential evidence was brought up during testimony that was not legal to do so. Olsaver said that the jury is instructed to not take into consideration things that have been ruled as inadmissible. He denied the motion.
Closing Arguments:
All three sides, The People, Daly, and Sala presented their closing arguments to the juries Tuesday afternoon. The juries have received instructions from Lenawee County Circuit Court Judge Michael Olsaver, and are currently deliberating.
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