Copy Of Grand Jury Indictment In Rayjon Gomez Murder Shows A Prosecutor Playing Cards Close To Chest...

Photo, blog post by John Hoff

Criminal complaint documents are usually a cornucopia of (alleged) criminal information: names, dates, places, makes and models of cars right down to the license plate, even colorful nicknames and aliases. A grand jury indictment is different. It's a bare bones document showing a "grand jury" of random citizens believes there is enough evidence for a criminal indictment of Donquarius Copeland in the murder of 13-year-old Rayjon Gomez.

One prosecutor famously said he could get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich.

That doesn't mean Donquarius Copeland is innocent, no more than it means he's guilty. The courts will decide whether Copeland killed Rayjon Gomez...

What it does show is that evidence is being kept tightly under wraps in this case, far away from the prying eyes of the media. The grand jury indictment (pictured above) doesn't tell us much, but I did manage to glean a few stray facts that haven't yet been published in association with this case, so far as I can tell.

1.) Rayjon's full name was Rayjon Davonte Gomez. His birthday was 11-11-97.

2.) Four counts of attempted murder show four other juveniles present at the scene. But their names and birthdays are left blank in the indictment.

3.) Witnesses examined by the grand jury included Dr. Sarah Myers, (MPD) Sergeant Christopher Karakostas, and five other unnamed witnesses designated by the letters A through E.

Karakostas is a homicide detective, the kind of guy police detective shows are based upon and, actually, his name does turn up in association with the television show "The First 48" (Hours) which includes the following thumbnail biography:

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Sgt. Chris Karakostas has been with the Minneapolis Police Department for sixteen years. He has spent the past year in homicide. "My memory from when I was probably about eight, was that I was going to grow up and be a police officer. I don't have any police officers in the family. It's just something that I always wanted to do."

 Karakostas describes homicide as "the crime people fear the most." In his year on homicide, Karakostas has seen the impact that homicides have on communities. He describes his work as a "privilege" and says, "You're working for a victim that you don't even know. And you may not even know their families yet. But in the end, when you do finally get to meet the families, all of them are grateful that you're helping them. You can't bring their loved one back, but you can certainly do everything that you can to try and bring those responsible to justice. And that means something to them."

He adds, "That means a lot to me too."

 In his spare time, Karakostas enjoys traveling.
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