Prosecutor Continues To "Play Cards Close To The Chest" With Rayjon Gomez Murder Case...

Facebook photo used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism, blog post by John Hoff

As this blogger reported with the indictment of Donquarius Copeland and with the indictment of Derrick Deangelo Catchings, the Hennepin County prosecutor is "playing his cards close to his chest" with indictments instead of criminal complaints. Issuing forth from closed grand jury proceedings, the indictments reveal little but bare allegations and the fact witnesses exist designated by letter. This blogger suspects evidence may be thin and witnesses are scared...well, rhymes with witless.

Scared witless.

(Today I was at the U of M law school giving a talk on the Johnny Northside case and the experience has inspired me to clean up my post-Afghan deployment potty mouth)

Here is the indictment that names Kemen (rhymes with "semen?") Lavatos Taylor, but if you click here to read it you won't learn much. The indictment is nearly a carbon copy of the indictment of Donquarius Copeland. Just switch the names.

No criticism is intended of the prosecutor by this observation. If this is how the game must be played, well, this is why prosectuors earn the big bucks. I just wish the unsolved murder of Annshalike Hamilton could get this kind of resolution. 

JNS BLOG SUPER EXCLUSIVE: Criminal Background Of Kemen Lavatos Taylor II, Third Guy Indicted In Rayjon Gomez Murder, Who Sometimes Shows Up Right Across The Street From Where This Blogger Lives...

Photo of murder victim Rayjon Gomez, from Facebook, used under First Amendment Fair Comment and Criticism, blog post by John Hoff

A teeny weeny article in the Star Tribune announces there has been an indictment of a third suspect in the murder of Rayjon Gomez, age 13.

Kemen Lavatos Taylor II, whose most recent criminal conviction in 2009 showed him to be a resident of Robbinsdale, was named in an indictment in the killing of Gomez. Here is info not available anywhere else about Taylor's criminal background...

(Alleged) Resident Of 2223 6th St. N. (Allegedly) Had Serious Weapons...

Stock photo, blog post by John Hoff

Kemen Lavatos Taylor, whose address appears as 2223 6th St. N. on the Hennepin County Jail Roster, remains in custody on three weapons charges. In light of the still unsolved shooting of Terrell Mayes, Jr. and the "riddling by bullets" of a house in the same area a short time later, it's very interesting to find such an (alleged) gun enthusiast living in the same area. However, North Minneapolis is full of weaponry and there's no point getting TOO excited over this arrest.

There appear to be two identical charges of possessing a "pistol or assault weapon" and one charge of possessing a "machine gun or sawed off shotgun." Here is the unedited info off the jailhouse roster...


Full Name: TAYLOR, KEMEN .LAVATOS
Booking Number: 2012007446
Date of Birth: 5/17/1986
Sheriff's Custody: IN CUSTODY . .
Housing Location: MINNEAPOLIS CITY HALL Address
Received Date/Time: 3/20/2012.. 15:31
Arrested By: MINNEAPOLIS PD
Case/Count Description of Charge Charged By Reason for Arrest Severity of Charge State of Charge Bail Information Court Appearance Date/Time Court Appearance Location

1/1 POSSESS PISTOL/ASSAULT WEAPON-CONVICTION OR ADJUDICATED DELINQUENT FOR CRIME OF VIOLENCE MINNEAPOLIS PD BENCH WARRANT FELONY $200,000
BAIL SET BY DC 4/9/2012..10:00 DOWNTOWN Address

2/1 POSSESS PISTOL/ASSAULT WEAPON-CONVICTION OR ADJUDICATED DELINQUENT FOR CRIME OF VIOLENCE MINNEAPOLIS PD BENCH WARRANT FELONY $200,000
BAIL SET BY DC 4/9/2012..10:00 DOWNTOWN Address

2/2 MACHINE GUNS AND SHORT-BARRELED SHOTGUNS-ACTS PROHIBITED-OWN/ POSSESS/ OPERATE MINNEAPOLIS PD BENCH WARRANT FELONY $0
4/9/2012..10:00 DOWNTOWN Address

Taylor was arrested March 20 but still remains in custody.

Taylor's criminal record shows a fifth degree possession of a controlled substance charge, for which he was found guilty and got three years probation, plus credit for 33 days served. He also pled guilty to escape from custody and (if I read the data correctly) was sentenced to a year in the St. Cloud correctional facility with credit for 8 days served.

As of today, Taylor still owes the court $156 on that last charge.

Taylor has also pled guilty to taking movable property without consent. He was sentenced to time served, which was 60 days.

He also failed to obey a stop sign, pleaded not guilty, and was fined $150. However, in light of the fact he'd served 4 days in jail, the fine was suspended.

The house at 2223 6th St. N. is owned by Proton Investments, Inc. The proof Taylor resides there is only the jailhouse roster, which is not 100 percent reliable.

No name is listed for the taxpayer on the house, merely an address: 5353 Wayata (sic) Blvd. #201, Minneapolis, MN 55416. As of 6/13/2011, the rental license was in review.

And now my editorial comments in this situation:

Authorities have talked a lot about getting the guns off the streets of North Minneapolis. So if Taylor is found guilty...

Taylor should go away for a long time.

On another note...

This particular blog post is the first of (I hope) many more, in which I dig deeply into the data contained in the Hennepin County Jailhouse Roster, looking for incidents relevant to North Minneapolis.

Yes, I will still be printing the roster verbatim, but now I plan to add "additional value" to my postings of the unedited roster.