NC Latin King sentenced to 7 years in federal prison

Randolph Leif Kilfoil, a Latin King member known as King Paul, received a sentence of seven years in federal prison from US District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder in Winston-Salem today after pleading guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon.

Dressed in an orange jumpsuit bearing the imprint of the Alamance County Detention Center, the 25-year-old Kilfoil stood before the judge before receiving his sentence.

“Basically, whatever you feel is right for you to do to sentence me is what’s going to happen,” Kilfoil said. “I need help, and I’m willing to be helped. That’s what I want to do. I want to go back to New York. That’s basically it.”

Kilfoil was previously convicted in 2006 of felony conspiracy robbery with a dangerous weapon.

In addition to the seven-year active prison sentence, Schroeder ordered three years of supervised release in which Kilfoil is not allowed to associate with other gang members, particularly the Latin Kings, and is not allowed to wear any “gang colors.” After reading a letter from Randolph Kilfoil’s brother, Raymond — a bricklayer who promised to help him, to the best of his ability, to obtain membership in a union local after release — Schroeder said he would recommending the defendant be assigned to a prison near New York City provided that it was equipped with mental health treatment services.

Schroeder said it was with “much sadness” that he noted Kilfoil’s difficult upbringing, which included a mother who was addicted to heroin, a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactive disorder, and little work history.

Under the plea agreement accepted by Kilfoil, the maximum sentence he could have received was 10 years.

Schroeder indicated he ruled out a more lenient sentence based on the notion that at the time Kilfoil was caught as a felon with a firearm he and other members of the group were harboring a minor. He said he was persuaded “by the need to protect the public from further crimes,” partly because Kilfoil had resisted mental health treatment and had used marijuana up to the day of his arrest.

Jorge Cornell, the leader of the North Carolina Latin Kings and Kilfoil’s older brother, made hand gestures expressing solidarity when the defendant turned to leave the courtroom in handcuffs after the sentence was delivered. Kilfoil rolled his arms, making a clanking noise with the cuffs, as he walked out, showing little visible emotion.

Judge Schroeder embraced a characterization made by police and prosecutors of Kilfoil as the “enforcer” for the Latin Kings. A Memorandum Opinion and Order signed by Schroeder last November cites the testimony of officers Roman Watkins, Ronald Sizemore and Eric Sigmon of the Greensboro Police Department’s gang enforcement unit, noting that “the court credits their testimony, which it finds credible.”

The Schroeder memorandum states, “Defendant Kilfoil is a Latin Kings member who serves as its ‘enforcer’ or ‘muscle man.’ His job is to ensure that the gang’s rules and regulations are followed. According to [gang unit Officer Roman] Watkins, former and current Latin Kings members have stated their fear of Kilfoil, and members of area gangs, including the Sureños and MS-13, know him as an ‘enforcer’ and a dangerous person.”

After the sentencing, Cornell unequivocally rejected the characterization of his younger brother as an enforcer.

“My brother was no enforcer,” Cornell said. “That was just lies that the gang unit put out there. Where was the physical evidence? Was there any paper that says, ‘Members [of the Latin Kings], ex-member, members of MS-13 feared for their lives’ because of my brother? No, there wasn’t.”

The sentencing was attended by four other members of the Latin Kings and three pastors. Kilfoil’s supporters met with public defender John A. Dusenbury Jr. afterwards to express concern that due to miscommunication he had not had sufficient knowledge of the facts to counter the prosecution’s characterization of the group as having harbored a juvenile at the time of the arrest. Cornell said Dusenbery had refused to return his calls and had ignored efforts to speak with him in the courtroom before the case was heard.

A complaint filed last May with the Greensboro Human Relations Department by the Latin Kings details how the Rev. Nelson Johnson had tried to broker a constructive resolution of the police department’s concern that the group was harboring a runaway.

On May 12, 2009, the complaint states, Chief Tim Bellamy told Johnson the gang enforcement unit was looking for Carlos Coleman, a 16-year-old “who was on the runaway list from Garner, NC. Rev. Johnson explained that Coleman was not a runaway, that he was working at the church and that Rev. Johnson had previously spoken to Coleman’s mother, who in turn was going to send Coleman’s paperwork so that he may enroll at the A&T Middle College. According to Rev. Johnson, Chief Bellamy asked him to contact Coleman’s parents and ask them to remove him from the runaway list in Garner. Rev. Johnson spoke to Coleman’s father, who indicated he would do it as soon as he left work."

Johnson told Dusenbury today that the chief had assured him that he would not send the gang unit out to arrest Coleman.

Chief Bellamy did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The gang unit did, in fact, go to the Latin Kings’ house on Kirkman Street the next day to arrest Coleman.

As described in the complaint filed with human relations, five or six gang unit officers jumped out of cars that had approached at high speed and ran towards the house with guns drawn. Jorge Cornell, Randolph Kilfoil, Carlos Coleman, Jose Lugo and Wesley Williams were sitting on the front porch. Kilfoil reportedly got up and went inside, not realizing, according to Cornell, that the men with guns were police officers. Cornell and others said that Officer Watkins took a flying leap towards the door and kicked it in.

The Schroeder memorandum, based on officers’ testimony, gives a slightly different account of the incident. The police contend that they were at the Latin Kings house to serve a secured custody order, which requires law enforcement to detain a juvenile and return him to his parents. The Schroeder memorandum alleges that Watkins, whose badge was displayed around his neck, and the other officers approached the house, and Watkins commanded several times in English and Spanish, “Police. Do not move. Police. Do not move. Remain seated. Police. Do not move.”

The contention that Watkins gave commands in Spanish is puzzling considering that Cornell does not speak Spanish, members of the Latin Kings typically communicate with each other in English, and Watkins has had interactions with the group on numerous occasions.

The memorandum states that everyone complied with the order except for Kilfoil, who “made eye contact with Watkins, ignored the commands, and bent over at the waist, quickly reaching toward his left ankle with his right hand. With this move, Watkins testified, he ‘knew something was wrong’ and feared for the safety of officers and the others there.”

Judge Schroeder had denied a motion to suppress evidence based on the argument that Watkins’ act of entering the house without a warrant violated the defendant’s constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure, citing the 1990 case of United States vs. Moses, in which “the Supreme Court held that police officers, incident to an arrest, may conduct a precautionary protective sweep of areas ‘immediately adjoining the place of arrest from which an attack could be immediately launched,’ without probable cause or reasonable suspicion.”

Watkins testified that he pursued Kilfoil into the house and struggled with the defendant after observing Kilfoil reach toward his left waistband, brought him to the floor and handcuffed him. After patting Kilfoil down, Watkins said he discovered a Ruger 9 mm pistol with the serial number filed off.

Cornell contends that the police misrepresented the time line of events.

“He was standing in the doorway,” Cornell said of his younger brother. “This so-called struggle, by the time the car pulled up, he was inside the house. He ran into the house. I didn’t know he went inside to get the gun.”

Cornell said that he had not been aware that his younger brother had a gun in his possession and acknowledged that it represented poor judgment but contended that his brother’s action to retrieve the gun stemmed from an admirable motive. Cornell was shot in the fall of 2008 in what remains an unsolved crime.

“He was distraught when I got shot multiple times,” Cornell said. “That’s my blood. He looks up to me so much. I remember him telling me if I died he couldn’t live. You always hear people tell you they’ll never let anything happen to you if they’re around. That’s the way we treat each other; we’re family.”

Cornell described the household where he and his brothers grew up in New York City as a “hellhole.” He said his younger brother was beaten as a child and placed in psychiatric treatment instead of being pulled out of an abusive family situation.

The prosecution had used Kilfoil’s family history as evidence to construct a portrayal of the defendant as a fearsome “enforcer.” “In at least two of Watkins’ several discussions with him, Kilfoil claimed he tried to kill his parents and expressed pride over the attempt,” the Schroeder memorandum reads. “Watkins confirmed Kilfoil’s claims through his interactions with other gang members in Greensboro, who reported the same. Based on his interviews of several others within and without the Latin Kings, Watkins believed that Kilfoil was ‘crazy’ and ‘violent.’”

Reflecting after the sentencing on how he had been placed with adoptive parents as he neared his 13th birthday and did not see his biological family for long stretches of time, Cornell said he feels that he failed his brothers.

“He was abused, he was beaten — a little kid,” Cornell said of Kilfoil. “I know because I was in the house. When my mom was out there doing drugs at night or sleeping through the day, I was watching my brothers. At age 9 I was hustling out on the street. I would go rob peoples’ cars and houses, rob construction sites and sell it at scrap yards. Then I would go down to the diner and get some food to bring back to them.

“They created a monster,” Cornell continued. “The only thing that changed that monster was me. Because he feels the love. Of course, you’re going to protect your family. That’s what Paul did that day — was try to protect his family.”