Judge strikes a blow for open records in Latin Kings case

A federal judge has turned down a request by the government to seal transcripts reflecting testimony by six witnesses in the racketeering case against the North Carolina Latin Kings.

Prosecutors sought to shield the testimony of former Latin Kings members Marcelo Perez (Sacrifice), Luis Alberto Rosa (Speechless), Richard Robinson (Focus), Charles Lawrence Moore (Toasty), Allan Jordan (Smooth), along with a sixth witness, Antwan Lloyd.

The government contends that the information could be used for retaliatory purposed by North Carolina Latin Kings leader Jorge Cornell (Jay) and other defendants, Russell Kilfoil (Peaceful) and Ernesto Wilson. Cornell and Wilson were sentenced in August, while Kilfoil's sentencing has been scheduled for Oct. 9. The government is also concerned that three other defendants who pleaded guilty but did not cooperate — Jason Paul Yates (Squirrel), Wesley Anderson Williams (Bam) and Steaphan Acencio-Vasquez (Leo) might use the information for retaliatory purposes.

US District Court Judge James A. Beaty found that the government did not meet the "heavy burden" of overcoming the common law presumption that the public has the right "to inspect and copy all judicial records and documents."

"The government wishes to shield the witnesses' trial transcript testimony from defendants who were present at the public, criminal trial and could readily identify witnesses and their testimony," Beaty wrote. "Thus, any potential act of retaliation may not necessarily stem from witnesses' trial transcripts."

Beaty said the government's request comes far too late to be meaningful, considering that the trial took place 10 months ago.

"The nature and content of witnesses' testimony were the subject of extensive reporting in the news and such information is available to the public from various media outlets," Beaty added. "Therefore, any act now by the court to shield witnesses' trial transcripts from the public would not likely thwart third-party retaliation because the request comes 'too late' to prevent public disclosure."

Latin Kings member Wesley Williams receives 7-year sentence

Wesley Williams (left)  with NC Latin Kings leader Jorge Cornell at Melvin Municipal Office Building in 2009.

UPDATE: Latin King member Russell Kilfoil's sentencing has been continued to Oct. 9.

ORIGINAL POST: Wesley A. Williams, a former member who was part of North Carolina Latin Kings leader Jorge Cornell's close circle in Greensboro from 2008 to 2010, received a sentence of seven years in federal prison today after pleading guilty to conspiracy to participate in a racketeering enterprise.

The 21-year-old Williams addressed US District Court Judge James A. Beaty Jr. briefing before learning his sentence.

"Isn't much to say," the defendant said. "I'm not denying the things I've done. I'm just asking the court for leniency. I want to complete my sentence and get back to my family as soon as possible."

The sentence departed from the guideline range of about eight to 10 years. Judge Beaty noted Williams' troubled upbringing while also stressing that the sentence needed to protect the public and act as a deterrent. The judge also noted that Williams benefited from his grandmother's house burning down because he earned $400 by helping a family friend who had been contracted to clean up the site.

Michael Driver, Williams' court-appointed lawyer, stressed his client background and characteristics in his statement to the court.

Driver said Williams' mother described her son's father as a "crackhead" and herself as a "functioning alcoholic" during his childhood who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Williams was 8 when he first tried alcohol, and smoked marijuana not long afterwards, Driver said. He started using powder cocaine at the age of 12.

Driver said his client was introduced to Cornell at the age of 12, and joined the Latin Kings at the age of 15, in 2008.

"Instead of doing everything in her power to keep her son away from Jorge Cornell, she drafted a custody agreement and signed her son over to Jorge Cornell," Driver said. "Most parents wouldn't have made that choice."

In the fall of 2008, Cara Williams appeared in a video produced by the Beloved Community Center that was shown during a community meeting in which she said Cornell was a positive role model for her son and encouraged him to finish high school.

Williams fled Greensboro in 2010 while facing state weapons charges related to a vehicle stop.

Driver said after his client turned 18 he was living in a weekly hotel in Las Vegas trying his best to support a girlfriend and small child.

From late 2008 to 2010, Willliams, who was known by the moniker King Bam, was frequently at Cornell's side during the Latin Kings leader's public appearances in Greensboro.

Guilford County School Board member Deena Hayes testified during the trial last year that Williams accompanied Cornell to her house for a strategy session when Cornell ran for Greensboro City Council. On at least one busy Friday night in Greensboro, Williams and Cornell staked out the corner of McGee and Elm streets to hand out quarter-page fliers promoting Cornell's candidacy.

Williams worked during his involvement with the Latin Kings as a laborer for Patriot Services in Greensboro. In December 2009, Williams was working at the Greensboro Coliseum moving mats, tires and stage pieces in preparation for a professional wrestling event when a member of the Greensboro Police Department gang unit told his employer — erroneously, as it turned out — that he was banned from city property. Later, an interim city manager publicly stated that there was no such ban.

Williams' criminal record was far from spotless during his period of involvement with the Latin Kings.

In August 2008, he was charged as a minor in a home invasion in which members of the Latin Kings broke into a man's house in the middle of the night and cracked him over the head with a bottle in what they said was retaliation for a prior attack against them. It turned out that the man had nothing to do with the attack. Under the guidance of the Rev. Nelson Johnson, Cornell wrote a letter of apology to the man.

Williams and co-defendant Richard Robinson were subjected to a vehicle stop in the spring on 2010 in which an AK-47 and shotgun were discovered in a minivan rented by Cornell. Robinson later testified that he and Williams were attempting to return the weapons to Robinson's mother after an aborting a plan to shoot into the house of former members Anthony Vasquez and Robert Vasquez.

Williams pleaded guilty, but did not agree to cooperate with the government and provide testimony against fellow Latin Kings. Williams admitted to burning down his grandmother's house for the insurance proceeds, but the jury found that arson was not part of the racketeering enterprise by the Latin Kings.

In court today, the once hefty Williams looked considerably thinner. He wearing glasses and a full beard, he smiled broadly at his defense lawyer, prosecutor Robert AJ Lang and members of the gallery. None of the defendants' family members were present, but Kristen Thompson, a friend from Greensboro, sat near the back to demonstrate support.

"You could get a college diploma while you're inside," Lang told Williams. "You've got to use it to your benefit."

Cornell and seven other defendants were sentenced last week (see previous coverage). A ninth defendant, Russell Kilfoil, is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 28.

Lang told the court that Williams looked better than he had in the nearly two years since he had been arrested and even the prior years when the government monitored him the Latin Kings.

"Mr. Williams was a troubled, young man," Lang said. "One of the reasons the government pursued this case against Mr. Cornell was this consistent recruitment of young, troubled, at-risk youth.

"It's a very sad tale of young men that were brought into this Latin King ideology and are now before this court," the prosecutor added.

After receiving the sentence, Thompson watched her friend being led away in chains.

"He seemed happy," she said, "so that's good."

Sentencing for Latin Kings scheduled for August

Jorge Cornell (right) in Greensboro about a month before his arrest.

Sentencing for nine Latin Kings and an associate tried as part of a criminal racketeering enterprise has been scheduled for the mid-August.

Jorge Cornell, inca, or leader, of the North Carolina Latin Kings from 2005 to 2011, along with his brother, Russell Kilfoil, are scheduled to be sentenced at the Hiram H. Ward federal building in downtown Winston-Salem on Aug. 14 at 10 a.m. Russell Kilfoil is also known as Jonathan Hernandez.

Cornell and Kilfoil were found guilty of racketeering by a federal jury in November 2012.

Ernesto Wilson, a Latin Kings associate who was convicted with Cornell and Kilfoil will be sentenced on Aug. 13 at 10 a.m. at the same location, along with Wesley Williams and Steaphan Acencio-Vasquez. Williams and Acencio-Vasquez pleaded guilty before the case went to trial, but did not testify.

Four others, Jason Paul Yates, Marcelo Ysrael Perez, Luis Rosa, Richard Robinson and Charles Moore, will be sentenced on Aug. 15 at 10 a.m. at the federal court building. Yates, a rival of Cornell for leadership of the North Carolina Latin Kings, was to be tried separately because his original lawyer was not prepared to represent him with the other defendants. He subsequently pleaded guilty. Perez, Rosa, Robinson and Moore pleaded guilty and testified for the government.

Three other defendants, Samuel Velasquez, Irvin Vasquez and Randolph Kilfoil, who is also Cornell's younger brother, were acquitted by the jury at the conclusion of the 2012 trial. A racketeering charges against a fourth defendant, Carlos Coleman, was dismissed by US District Court Judge James A. Beaty Jr.

Cornell founded the North Carolina Latin Kings in Greensboro in 2005 after relocating from New York with his family three years earlier. As a member of the New York Latin Kings in the mid- to late 1990s, he was strongly influenced by Antonio Fernandez, a leader known as King Tone. Cornell later recounted that he received authorization from the national leadership of the Latin Kings in Chicago to start the North Carolina organization.

After going public to protest police harassment in 2008, the North Carolina Latin Kings under Cornell's leadership aligned themselves with an interracial group of pastors. Cornell made two unsuccessful bids for Greensboro City Council, and his organization remained a fixture on the city's social justice scene until a federal raid in December 2011 led to the jailing of most of the organization's membership.