Det. Beining: Because of?

JESSY ROTEN: By Crip members because I was wearing red suspenders.

Det. Beining: Oh, because of the colors?

JESSY ROTEN: They would say, "Why are you wearing red," and I was like, "Oh, because I like the color red," and they would kick my ass.

Det. Beining: Was there a reason for the red suspenders? Did they mean anything to you?

JESSY ROTEN: No, it was just um, just another dress code for

Det. Beining: Skinheads?

JESSY ROTEN: SHARPS.

Det. Beining: sharps? And your (inaudible) no friends of the other colors there with the Bloods and the Crips?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Yeah, usually the Bloods are red and the Crips are blue. So, was this a Blood that?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah. No, the Crips came up to me and asked me why are you wearing red suspenders.

Det. Beining: Oh, I get it now. Are there many black families that live around you?

JESSY ROTEN: Um, not that I know of, really. I know there is one, I guess it would be on 55th Avenue and 33rd Street. I think there is one family that lives on the corner there.

Det. Beining: 33rd Street, it's the street that you live on the corner of?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: I live on 57th Ave. I think it's on 55th Avenue. I'm not sure.

Det. Beining: On the same street, but a little bit south?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Okay, what about any of the other streets around there?

JESSY ROTEN: I'm not sure. I don't really know.

Det. Beining: You don't keep track of who's living where or anything?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Beining: Okay.

Det. Good: Well, you know where the incident happened last night, right. Do you know which house it was?

JESSY ROTEN: Um, I think when you're going down my alley, it's right there. I think it's the same house. I think I've seen those kids, as a matter of fact, running around outside before, you know.

Det. Beining: What kind of kids?

JESSY ROTEN: Little girls.

Det. Beining: Little girls?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Were they black. Were they white?

JESSY ROTEN: They kind of looked like they were half black and half white.

Det. Beining: Mixed?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Mixed racially?

JESSY ROTEN: I'm not sure. I didn't pay that close attention to them. They ran up and I'm like, "Hi," I said, "How are you doing?"

Det. Good: Have you ever had any confrontations with any of those people who live down there?

JESSY ROTEN: Those black, those black people?

Det. Good: Well, no, you, in that house, have you ever, you know, just walking by, have they ever said anything to you out of color because of your appearance? Have you ever said anything to them out of color because of their appearance.

JESSY ROTEN: I've never even talked to any of those people before, not once.

Det. Beining: How about any of your buddies that come to your house? Are they around your neighborhood much?

JESSY ROTEN: No. They try to, I don't know. There's Sawgrass Lake, hang out usually.

Det. Beining: Is that a pretty nice place?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: We try to stay away from the streets.

Det. Beining: Why?

JESSY ROTEN: Just hanging out, to be by ourselves, you know.

Det. Good: Do you hunt?

JESSY ROTEN: Do I hunt? No, I've never been hunting in my life.

Det. Good: How about your step-dad? Does he hunt?

JESSY ROTEN: He used to.

Det. Good: Are there any weapons in your house?

JESSY ROTEN: No, he used to do archery, bow and arrow. Now that he is on probation, he's not allowed to have any weapons.

Det. Good: There are no weapons at all in your house?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Reining: Do you have your own bedroom there?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Reining: How many rooms are in that house?

JESSY ROTEN: Two.

Det. Beining: There are 2 rooms in the house, or just 2 bedrooms?

JESSY ROTEN: Two bedrooms

Det. Reining: So, your mom and he have 1 bedroom, and you have the other?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Reining: You and Dana?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah. It's kind of cramped up and I'm moving out when I turn 18.

Det. Beining: Where are you going?

JESSY ROTEN: I don't know. I'll probably just get an apartment somewhere around here, or I'll rent a house or something, you know, if I save up enough money.

Det. Beining: Okay.

Det. Good: George, Billy and Todd, yeah Todd. How about their dress and stuff. Do they pretty much conform to the way you're dressed?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: As far as the hair?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: The boots?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: Fatigues or the jeans?

JESSY ROTEN: No, I usually don't wear jeans.

Det. Beining: (laughs).

Det. Good: Right, right. Do they usually have on jeans?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: How about suspenders?

JESSY ROTEN: We really, they, we really don't wear braces too much. I mean, every once in a while, I'll throw on a pair.

Det. Beining: Do you wear anything usually, when you go out as a group, to show that you are sharps?

JESSY ROTEN: Bomber jackets.

Det. Beining: Bomber jackets?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, flight jackets. Like military flight jackets.

Det. Beining: Uh-huh. So you guys like the military-type look?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Yeah, it's pretty sharp

JESSY ROTEN: I don't know. I'll probably just get an apartment somewhere around here, or I'll rent a house or something, you know, if I save up enough money

Det. Beining: Okay.

Det. Good: George, Billy and Todd, yeah Todd. How about their dress and stuff. Do they pretty much conform to the way you're dressed?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: As far as the hair?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: The boots?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: Fatigues or the jeans?

JESSY ROTEN: No, I usually don't wear jeans.

Det. Beining: (laughs).

Det. Good: Right, right. Do they usually have on jeans?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: How about suspenders?

JESSY ROTEN: We really, they, we really don't wear braces too much. I mean, every once in a while, I'll throw on a pair.

Det. Beining: Do you wear anything usually, when you go out as a group, to show that you are sharps?

JESSY ROTEN: Bomber jackets.

Det. Beining: Bomber jackets?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, flight jackets. Like military flight jackets.

Det. Beining: Uh-huh. So you guys like the military-type look?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Yeah, it's pretty sharp

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Yeah, no pun intended.

JESSY ROTEN: (laughs)

Det. Beining: Are they, were they green? Army-green like?

JESSY ROTEN: I wear a black one. Billy's got a black one, and George has a black one. Todd wears a jeans jacket.

Det. Beining: Are they like canvas? Are they leather, or what?

JESSY ROTEN: It's kind of like a canvas-type thing.

Det. Beining: With zippers on them?

JESSY ROTEN: It's got a pocket here, 2 pockets on the inside of the zipper, on the sleeve here and that's it.

Det. Beining: Okay. So, besides going down to your buddy's house last night, until you got home at quarter Co 5:00, you weren't anywhere else? You came straight home?

JESSY ROTEN: Well, I was by the laundromat in Todd's little apartment complex, talking with my girlfriend. Like I said, we were arguing.

Det. Beining: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: And she just started walking off.

Det. Beining: How'd she get home?

JESSY ROTEN: She didn't come home. I don't know what's with

that.

Det. Beining: She still hasn't come home?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Beining: (laughing) Are you in deep shit with her, or what?

JESSY ROTEN: I guess.

Det. Beining: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: I don't know.

Det. Beining: Where did she go?

JESSY ROTEN: I have no idea.

Det. Beining: Back to Brandon?

JESSY ROTEN: No. I think she just went to one of her girlfriend's that she works with and may have spent the night with her, or something, you know.

Det. Beining: Cool off time, huh?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah. We really haven't been getting along too well lately.

Det. Beining: Uh-huh. Okay, you've never been arrested before. Can we get your fingerprints?

JESSY ROTEN: Sure.

Det. Beining: Do you consent to giving us your fingerprints?

JESSY ROTEN: Sure.

Det. Beining: Okay, we might want to do that. Any ideas who may have done this down there.

JESSY ROTEN: No. I have not the foggiest clue to who would want to do that, just totally out of the blue like that.

Det. Beining: Is there a problem with, you know, random shootings in that neighborhood?

JESSY ROTEN: No, not at all.

Det. Beining: Drive-by shootings, these little gang-bangers you talked about?

JESSY ROTEN: There are a lot. of gang fights that go on sometimes, and I've seen a couple mobs of them walking around, like Asian gangs.

Det. Beining: The Asians?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: There are a lot of them down in that area?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Did you ever see them armed with guns or anything like that?

JESSY ROTEN: Um, I've had a gun pulled on me by them. Det. Beining: Oh, you have?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Do you carry a gun when you go put or anything?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Beining: Your buddies, do they have any guns?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Good: Have you ever messed with guns, just going out target shooting or anything, just screwing around on a Saturday afternoon or something?

JESSY ROTEN: I shot a gun twice in my life. Once when I was about 12, I shot a .22 revolver and another time when I was about 13, I shot my dad's black powder rifle. That was it.

Det. Beining: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: To what?

Det. Good: Looking around your room a little bit.

JESSY ROTEN: Well, I've got my girlfriend's stuff there. I'd rather her be home at the time.

Det. Good: Is she working now?

JESSY ROTEN: I don't know where she's at.

Det. Beining: She didn't come home last night, when you stepped out, we were talking about it?

Det. Good: Is she supposed to work tonight?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: We could call her at work and run it by her.

JESSY ROTEN: She can't leave work.

Det. Good: No, we're just saying if she says, you know, "As long as you're there."

JESSY ROTEN: I don't care.

Det. Good: Okay, do you know her number at work?

JESSY ROTEN: I do believe it's 527-8421.

(Phone being dialed)

Det. Beining: When you got home last night, did you see anybody else running around the neighborhood besides the police? Anybody when you were driving in?

JESSY ROTEN: Uh-uh (negative).

Det. Beining: Or anything that looked suspicious?

JESSY ROTEN: Uh-uh (negative).

Det. Beining: Does your girlfriend have a pager or anything?

JESSY ROTEN: Uh-uh (negative).

Det. Good: Hi, Tracy, how you doing? This is Detective Good at the Sheriff's Office. Is Dana there, by chance? Yeah, til 3:00. Oh, yeah, it's only 1:30, okay, but are you expecting her at 3:00?

All-righty, thanks. Bye.

Det. Beining: It's a little early yet.

Det. Good: A little early.

Det. Beining: Well, why don't we take a ride out and get his fingerprints taken care of, unless you can think of something at the moment that you want to ask him.

Det. Good: Um.

Det. Beining: Maybe we could ask somebody to come here.

Det. Good: That would probably be easier.

JESSY ROTEN: The guy that took me up here said I wouldn't be

up here that long.

Det. Beining: You haven't been here that long. You've been here about ah, we've been only talking for about

40 minutes.

JESSY ROTEN: Can I smoke here?

Det. Beining: No, you're not allowed to smoke in the building at all. Relax a minute. We'll see if we can get somebody to come down here and get your prints real quick. It might go a little quicker.

JESSY ROTEN: Okay.

Det. Beining: Child support? How do you feel about that, after
your dad did it to you?

JESSY ROTEN: I don't know. I try to stay out of his personal
business.

Det. Beining: Oh, really.

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Do you guys get along all right?

JESSY ROTEN: Not really.

Det. Beining: No? What's he do for a living?

JESSY ROTEN: He works with George. George works with him, he
does the same thing I think Paul does.

Det. Beining: Oh, the fiberglass thing?

JESSY ROTEN: I think Paul does powder coating.

Det. Beining: Puts the finish on?

JESSY ROTEN: Excuse me?

Det. Beining: You said powder coating?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Is that the final finish?

JESSY ROTEN: I'm not sure.

Det. Beining: Like the gel-coat type stuff?

JESSY ROTEN: I think the gel-coat comes after that

Det. Beining: Oh, okay.

JESSY ROTEN: I'm not quite positive though.

Det. Beining: Where's that company at? Where are they at?

JESSY ROTEN: I think 7th Avenue South.

Det. Beining: It's down in south St. Pete?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: All right. Were you friends with these guys
before you moved into this house?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah. I've been friends with them. I met George at St. Pete High.

Det. Beining: Oh, he went to high school there?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: George is a tad older than you, huh, a couple of years older than you?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, all my friends are.

Det. Beining: Oh, you're the young guy?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Is there like a leader of this group or anything, or do you guys just do your own thing?

JESSY ROTEN: We do our own thing.

Det. Beining: Is there —- I don't know much about this SHARP stuff, so just bear with me, is there like a headquarters for all this stuff here?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Beining: There's not a meeting place or anything?

JESSY ROTEN: Uh-uh, no we just sit around and basically, you know, we can have a debate about this and that.

Det. Beining: Just the 4 of you, or do you get usually involved with others?

JESSY ROTEN: Well, we know other Skinheads. They come around every once in a while, but we don't see a whole lot of them.

Det. Beining: No? You had mentioned there are a lot of sharps around here. sharps and Skinheads are 2 different things?

JESSY ROTEN: No, a SHARP is a Skinhead.

Det. Beining: Okay. I guess Skinheads — you just said you don't see many of them.

JESSY ROTEN: No, I said I do see — there are a lot of them. Det. Beining: Oh, there are?

JESSY ROTEN: In this area, yeah, not down in my area. Det. Beining: No, up in this area?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, Seminole and around here.

Det. Beining: Are most of the guys in your age bracket?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, a few of them.

Det. Beining: So, the 19 to 20 age bracket?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, that's most, the age most of us are. Some are a little older.

Det. Beining: What made you get into a group like that?

JESSY ROTEN: It's, I don't know.

Det. Beining: You just seem to be a pretty intelligent guy.

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: I mean, you're, pretty straight and you know.

JESSY ROTEN: It's kind of a way I really just started thinking about the world one day and decided it could be so much better, you know.

Det. Beining: Well, how'd you get introduced to the sharps thing?

JESSY ROTEN: I met George in high school.

Det. Beining: Oh, he was already, he's been a member for a while?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, he pretty much brought me in.

Det. Beining: Oh, okay. And "bringing you in," what's that mean?

JESSY ROTEN: He introduced me to everybody. You know, brought me around and took me out to shows and that sort of thing.

Det. Beining: What kind of shows?

JESSY ROTEN: Ah, punk rock shows. Every once in a while a SHARP band will come.

Det. Beining: Oh, really, a speaker thing?

JESSY ROTEN: No, it's a band.

Det. Beining: Oh, band.

JESSY ROTEN: Music group.

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: There's like Agnostic Front, Drop-Kick Murphys,

Condemned 84

Det. Beining: And they play where?

JESSY ROTEN: The State Theater.

Det. Beining: The State Theater? Where's that at?

JESSY ROTEN: On Central Avenue, St. Pete.

Det. Beining: Central and what, close to the Dome?

JESSY ROTEN: No. It's real close to the St. Pete Police Department

Det. Beining: Oh, okay.

JESSY ROTEN: It's like right down the road from there.

Det. Beining: The St. Petersburg Police Department is right across the street from the Dome.

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, okay, it's close to the Dome then.

Det. Beining: (laughs) Okay. Is your ah, Dana, does she belong to this SHARP stuff too?

JESSY ROTEN: Actually, she has more of a racist attitude to her.

Det. Beining: She does?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Is that maybe one of the reasons why she got the butch-cut?

JESSY ROTEN: No, she did it because she knew I didn't like it.

Det. Beining: Something to piss you off (laughing)?

JESSY ROTEN: Uh-huh.

Det. Beining: She has a racist, more of a racist attitude? What do you mean by that, against blacks, against?

JESSY ROTEN: Against everybody. She's just a mean girl.

Det. Beining: (laughs) Just Dana against the rest of the world, is that the kind of thing she believes in?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: It's my world and there's the rest of the people?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Has she ever been arrested before or in trouble?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Good: Did you hear that?

Det. Beining: No, I didn't.

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Good: Hey, Jim, come here a minute.

Det. Beining: Stand by a minute.

JESSY ROTEN: Okay.

(detectives talking in background)

Det. Good: Yeah, yeah, ah, possible. Yeah, yeah, okay, thank you

(phone rings)

Det. Beining: I'm going to shut this tape down for a few minutes and let you take a break, all right.

JESSY ROTEN: I'll go down and have a smoke.

Det. Beining: This is Detective Beining. We're going to take about a few minute break. The time now is 1345 hours

Det. Beining: This is Detective Beining. The time now is about 1500 hours. We let Jessy take a smoke break, and we also took some pictures, and he consented to give his fingerprints. We're going to conclude this interview now at 1500 hours.

Det. Beining: This is Detective Beining with the Pinellas

County Sheriff's Office. This is case 99-67070. The date is April 3, 1999. This is an interview, second interview today with Jessy Roten, R-0-T-E-N.

Present in the interview is Detective Jeff Good, Jessy Roten and myself, Detective James Beining.

The time right now is 1720 hours, and we just came from Jessy's residence and, uh, we're going to do another interview.

Jeff did you have some

Det. Good: Yeah. Jessy, before I ask you any questions, um, at your house, when we were talking to you at your house, do you recall Detective Beining reading you your Miranda rights from a card?

Det. Good: Do you remember acknowledging those rights?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, I do.

Det. Good: Having those rights still in mind, do you have any questions about those rights? Do you understand each one of those?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, I do.

Det. Good: Do you wish to talk to us and answer our questions at this point?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, I do.

Det. Good: Okay. Back in December, um, I got information that there were some guys hanging out around your house. One guy had just gotten out of prison, that he'd been in prison since eighty-eight and he had just gotten out of prison. He drives a red Pathfinder. Who's that individual?

JESSY ROTEN: I don't know who I, I seriously do not know anyone with a red Pathfinder.

Det. Good: Okay. JESSY ROTEN: I have

Det. Good: Supposedly, this — this individual was at your

house and he was brandishing a three fifty-seven

handgun?

JESSY ROTEN: It was probably that pellet gun sitting on the sofa. It might have been my friend Chris Leander's.

Det. Good: Okay, well Chris was the next one on our list.

JESSY ROTEN: Okay.

Det. Good: Who's Chris?

JESSY ROTEN: He's an old friend of mine. He went to prison while ago, it wasn't nowhere near back in nineteen eighty-eight.

Det. Good: Okay. What's Chris' last name?

JESSY ROTEN: Leanders.

Det. Good: Okay, 'cause I got information that during this same time period that Chris was at the house and that he had a three-eighty handgun. Semi automatic. Do you recall that?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Good: How about a guy that was on crutches?

JESSY ROTEN: That was on crutches?

Det. Good: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, I have a friend that's, that was

Det. Good: Okay

JESSY ROTEN: On crutches.

Det. Good: Who

JESSY ROTEN: He was never in prison, he was in the Airforce.

Det. Good: Okay. Who was the guy on crutches?

JESSY ROTEN: His name was Ken.

Det. Good: Ken?

JESSY ROTEN: Uh-huh.

Det. Good: Do you know his last name?

JESSY ROTEN: No, I don't.

Det. Good: Okay. So, none of these three individuals

brought guns into the house at that point in time?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Good: Okay. Billy Ramey, his Blazer. Is it kind of like a bluish-gray color?

JESSY ROTEN: Hmm-hmm.

Det. Good: Do you occasionally drive that vehicle?

JESSY ROTEN: Do I?

Det. Good: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: do I, I

Det. Good: Have you on occasion

JESSY ROTEN: I've droven it once at work

Det. Good: Okay

JESSY ROTEN: to go, to take a physical and once to go up to the store right, acro-you know, two blocks away from my house.

Det. Good: Okay. But it is bluish-gray? It's not like all primer gray?

(Pause)

Det. Beining: Okay. Now, Jessy, we went back to your house with your consent and, and your girlfriend's consent. You let us search us your room.

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Beining: Okay. We did-I did find a seven-point-six-two caliber bullet on your dresser.

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Beining: Along with some other things. You know, before you told us that, um, that your skinhead affiliation was not really Nazi related, but once we get into your room, we realize that

JESSY ROTEN: Right

Det. Beining: you are, uh, involved in that kind of stuff.

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Beining: Okay. Um, when we searched your room, I'll get to that later. Um, after we searched your room, we sat down and had a talk with you at which time I read you Miranda warnings, uh, and you still denied really having any knowledge of what happened.

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Beining: Even af-even after we laid it right out on the line to you.

JESSY ROTEN: Hmm-hmm.

Det. Beining: Um, from there I went outside and talked to your stepfather and your mom (clears throat), and I had, you know, a conversation and laid it all out to them, and they said 'Boy, it sounds like, you know, maybe he does know something.' And I says, 'Would you let me look in your garage?' And Paul said, 'Sure.' He went back there, let us in, even helped us move stuff. Once we got back in there, Detective Good and Paul had moved a fiberglass

JESSY ROTEN: Chest

Det. Beining: seat top off and underneath we find a rifle down there, wrapped in plastic, okay, which appears to be probably the gun we're looking for. Okay? Now, obviously you have some more knowledge or involvement in this, and before you gave us a statement, and now we need to go through it again. This time, we want the honest-to-goodness truth,

JESSY ROTEN: Okay.

Det. Beining: alright? We've been nothing but friendly with ya.

JESSY ROTEN: Right.

Det. Beining: Um, it's time to get this thing right. Okay? You understand that?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, I do

Det. Beining: Okay. Are you ready to do that?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, I am.

Det. Beining: Okay. Why don't you tell us what happened.

JESSY ROTEN: Okay, but first for the record, this has nothing at all to do-anything at all to do with anything that was racially motivated.

Det. Beining: Alright. Why do-are

JESSY ROTEN: I was

Det. Beining: you sure?

JESSY ROTEN: I was-yes. Excuse me?

Det. Beining: Go ahead.

JESSY ROTEN: Okay. I was very angry. I guess last night I got in a fight with Todd. I bloodied his nose and I got him pretty good.

Det. Good: Was this after you and Dana had your misunderstanding?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, because he wouldn't tell me where she was at, and he knew where she was at.

Det. Beining: Okay, but what time was this?

JESSY ROTEN: This must have been at least three-two, two-thirty, three. Somewhere between two and three.

Det. Beining: Okay. Where were you at when this occurred?

JESSY ROTEN: At Todd's house.

Det. Beining: Alright.

JESSY ROTEN: From there, I pulled a knife on him and I knew I wasn't going to do anything with it 'cause he is one of my friends, so I walked off.

Det. Beining: And what happened when you pulled the knife on him? What, you know

JESSY ROTEN: He backed off and everyone told me not, 'Jessy — Jessy just calm down. Put that thing back.' So I did, and I started walking.

Det. Good: How much did you have to drink up to that point?

JESSY ROTEN: I had five beers.

Det. Good: Total?

JESSY ROTEN: Total.

Det. Beining: Who all was there to witness this?

JESSY ROTEN: Um, everyone. There was

Det. Beining: Obviously, Todd, 'cause that's who you were fighting with.

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Good: George?

JESSY ROTEN: George.

Det. Good: Billy?

JESSY ROTEN: Billy.

Det. Beining: Who's Chuck? Was Chuck there? Is that a

JESSY ROTEN: Chuck was there.

Det. Beining: Who is Chuck?

JESSY ROTEN: He's just a friend from Tampa.

Det. Beining: Okay.

Det. Good: Do you know his last name?

JESSY ROTEN: No, I -- I really do not know his last name.

Det. Beining: Alright.

Det. Good: How about, uh, I don't know if you gave us her
name or not. Is it George's girlfriend?

JESSY ROTEN: Danielle Sherman. I gave you the last name.

Det. Good: Was she there? Was Danielle there?

JESSY ROTEN: I — I think she was, yeah. I don't know if she was outside when this little incident occurred or not

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: I was pretty incoherent (unintelligible)

Det. Beining: So, this is an argument over your girlfriend left, you had a spat, he knew where she was at, but wouldn't tell you?

JESSY ROTEN: Right.

Det. Beining: Okay. Continue.

JESSY ROTEN: I

Det. Beining: You said you bloodied his nose. I'm sorry, how did you do that?

JESSY ROTEN: Umm Det. Beining: Did you hit him?

JESSY ROTEN: He-he had me in a headlock and so I just started elbowing him in the face.

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: When he had me like that.

Det. Beining: Alright. Go ahead.

JESSY ROTEN: Okay, um, then I started walking. There's another person, Erica.

Det. Beining: Erica who?

JESSY ROTEN: Evans.

Det. Beining: Do you know how to get in touch with her? Phone number or

JESSY ROTEN: No

Det. Beining: anything.

JESSY ROTEN: No, I don't.

Det. Beining: Where she lives?

JESSY ROTEN: I don't think she has a phone. She-she usually always comes out with Bill, pages Bill from some

Det. Beining: She comes with Bill?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: She pulled up in her truck and said, 'Jessy, get in the truck.'

Det. Good: What kind of truck is it?

JESSY ROTEN: It's a Dodge, uh, like, Sport, you know, it's like Sport.

Det. Good: Low rider?

JESSY ROTEN: Excuse me?

Det. Good: Low rider?

JESSY ROTEN: Hmm, kind of. It's her dad's truck.

Det. Good: What color is it?

JESSY ROTEN: It's white with light brown splash.

Det. Beining: Okay. Go ahead.

JESSY ROTEN: She picked me up and took me home. There I went inside the house and Dana pulled up with Julie. I was so overwhelmed by being so pissed off, I

Det. Beining: Do you know who Julie is? The lady down at the store?

JESSY ROTEN: That's the

Det. Beining: the clerk, same one?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Good: The blond that was there when we went in?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: She dropped her off. I got pissed because I

thought Dana was gonna leave. So I said 'Okay, whatever.'

Det. Good: About what time is this now?

JESSY ROTEN: This was very late. It must have been at least three-thirty, four in the morning. I went inside, grabbed my gun.

Det. Beining: Where'd you keep it?

JESSY ROTEN: Behind that little sofa.

Det. Beining: In the bedroom?

JESSY ROTEN: The sofa in my bedroom.

Det. Good: Was Dana there when you went outside with the gun?

JESSY ROTEN: She — everyone saw me come outside with the gun

Det. Good: Who's everyone?

JESSY ROTEN: and — and they were-that's why they left. Everyone-Erica, Dana and Julie, saw me come out with the gun, so they left. They got scared and

left.

Det. Beining: They all left?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Beining: So, that leaves you out there by yourself.

JESSY ROTEN: I was walking away. I didn't notice they were leaving until I saw one of them drive by.

Det. Beining: They left in this, uh, white truck?

JESSY ROTEN: I-I guess Erica did. Dana and Julie were in Julie's truck.

Det. Good: Okay. Let me ask you this. If we took you back there, would you be able to show us where you were the first time and the second time that you wrapped the rounds off?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, I would.

Det. Good: Okay.

Det. Beining: Okay, go ahead.

JESSY ROTEN: I did not mean to shoot that fucking house.

Det. Beining: How did you shoot it?

JESSY ROTEN: I was shooting off rounds. I folded the stock. And I was going to hold it just like this, shoot rounds off. It slipped and a round went off 'cause that trigger is really slippery. I mean it's real soft. It's sensitive.

Det. Beining: One round?

JESSY ROTEN: One round.

Det. Beining: Is that gun automatic?

JESSY ROTEN: No, it was semi-automatic.

Det. Beining: So, you were pulling those off pretty fast,

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: weren't you? Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: There was two different times, and there was not a second party. I went-I went back to my house after I shot it off some,

Det. Beining: Uh-huh

JESSY ROTEN: thought about it. Actually I didn't think about it, I was just-just, you know, overwhelmed with fucking rage or whatever. So I left again. I went back to the end of the alley and shot off some more rounds And when I went to fold the stock, I went to grab the trigger, I pulled it back up and it had already went off and hit the house. I heard a little girl screaming.

Det. Beining: Was anybody else with you?

JESSY ROTEN: No, there was not anyone else with me.

Det. Beining: You got the gun from George, didn't you?

JESSY ROTEN: Excuse me?

Det. Beining: You bought the gun from George? Or you got it from him?

JESSY ROTEN: He didn't know that I had that gun.

Det. Beining: Why didn't he know it?

JESSY ROTEN: 'Cause I took it from him.

Det. Beining: Where did-where did you take it from? Where did he have it?

JESSY ROTEN: In his car.

Det. Good: When did you do this?

JESSY ROTEN: It's about three weeks ago.

Det. Beining: Now, we have some problems that I need for you to clear up for me. Okay?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: And we're going to go back down there

JESSY ROTEN: Okay.

Det. Beining: and we're going to want you to show us. Okay?

JESSY ROTEN: Okay.

Det. Beining: Now, if I would take a piece of paper here and that house down there, you know the alley comes out-this is the alley that leads up to your house. Okay? And this is thirty-first street. Okay. You have this-this house-and I'm not real sure how it's shaped. There's actually a part that comes out like that in the front. Is that how it's shaped?

Det. Good: Hmm-hmm.

Det. Beining: Okay.

Det. Good: Hmm-hmm. Turn it the other way. This is-the

bedroom's over here and this kind of protrudes so that they can't see past

Det. Beining: This is thirty-first street.

Det. Good: You talking about where the caller?

Det. Beining: Where the what?

Det. Good: The caller? The one that made the call?

Det. Beining: No. This is the house over here.

Det. Good: Oh, oh, oh. Okay. Yeah, sort of like that.

Det. Beining: Okay. (Chuckles) Now that he's messed up my drawing here!

We have more than one hole in that house.

JESSY ROTEN: If it hit more than once, I didn't know.

Det. Beining: Were you holding it down at anytime? Waist level? Shooting it?

JESSY ROTEN: No. I was shooting it, just pow-pow-pow-pow-pow-pow-pow-pow (rapidly) and that's, you know, a pretty powerful round

Det. Beining: Oh, sure it is.

JESSY ROTEN: It's-I was told when you're shooting something like that, don't grip it, let it pop around in your hand.

Det. Beining: Uh-huh, uh-huh

JESSY ROTEN: You know?

Det. Beining: So you were doing that. It was jumping around.

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah, just pow-pow-pow-pow. It was just bouncing around and just-it was just going everywhere.

Det. Beining: Uh-huh. And-Okay, so it's possible you did hit it more than one time then?

JESSY ROTEN: It's possible.

Det. Beining: Okay. Now you said you heard-heard a

JESSY ROTEN: Girl scream

Det. Beining: girl scream.

JESSY ROTEN: I heard a girl scream.

Det. Beining: An adult? A little girl?

JESSY ROTEN: I heard, it was a little girl scream.

Det. Beining: A little girl. Okay. What did you do then?

JESSY ROTEN: I didn't know what to do then. I just-I just went-went home. I went home. Didn't go back.

Det. Beining: Go ahead.

JESSY ROTEN: You guys made a mistake. Not-not you two, personally.

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: When I had been at my house and I told you about them cops that approached me?

Det. Beining: Uh-huh.

JESSY ROTEN: I went back after all the cops were gone out of that neighborhood and did it again. Shot off more rounds at the end of the alley.

Det. Beining: We know that.

Det. Good: We know it.

JESSY ROTEN: Well, just, you know

Det. Good: Hmm-hmm.

JESSY ROTEN: did

Det. Good: So you were approached the first time?

JESSY ROTEN: I was approached in between shootings.

Det. Good: Okay.

Det. Beining: And what was exactly the conversation with that?

JESSY ROTEN: With the police officer?

Det. Beining: Yeah, yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: Same thing I gave you earlier. Was

Det. Beining: You were being straight with us on that?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes. I-he-he came up. I was walking out of my back door

Det. Good: Where was the gun at at that point?

JESSY ROTEN: It was in my house, Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: behind the couch. I was coming out to smoke a cigarette 'cause I'm not allowed to smoke in the house

Det. Good: Hmm-hmm.

JESSY ROTEN: No one is. You know, it's my mom's deal. And I came out and here comes one cop running at me with the dog and he's like, whoa, you know, holding the dog back, shining a flashlight at me.

Det. Good: Hmm-hmm.

JESSY ROTEN: And here comes another cop with the gun in his hand, shining a flashlight at me. And he said, 'How long have you been here? Did you hear any shots go off?' And I said, 'No, I just pulled up.' And he said, 'Okay. Go inside and get some sleep.' So I went inside and smoked my cigarette and sat around for a little while

Det. Beining: And then went back out again?

JESSY ROTEN: yeah.

Det. Beining: And-can you tell me about what time the first incident happened and then-well, actually you have how many times? Are you shooting it three times, actually?

JESSY ROTEN: No, I shot it twice.

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: The first time I shot it was

Det. Beining: Was around

JESSY ROTEN: was when everyone was at my house,

Det. Beining: Yeah

JESSY ROTEN: and I — you know — and they saw me walk out with the gun,

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: and so they all left. I went down to the alley. Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop. Then I went back to my house and I sat there, you know. It just, you know, after hearing her, like 'Oh, shit, what the fuck.' You know, 'What the fuck am I gonna do?' And I went back outside. I was gonna smoke, you know, a whole goddamn pack of cigarettes because I was just pissed off about Dana-you know-1 knew I didn't hit a house that time, and, you know, when I went back outside, the cops came back up. You know, 'How long have you been here? Did you hear any shots go off?' 'No,' blah-blah-blah. 'Okay. Go back inside your house,' so I did. I went in there. Sat there. Left again with the gun. Went back down to the end of the alley. Loaded a clip, cocked it back, started shooting in the air, folded the stock. I was about ready to raise it back up with my finger on the trigger and it went off.

Det. Beining: One time.

JESSY ROTEN: One time that I knew it went into the house. That is the only time I knew it went into the house.

Det. Beining: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: So

Det. Beining: So that was a single shot?

JESSY ROTEN: That was a single shot.

Det. Beining: And then you ran.

JESSY ROTEN: I ran.

Det. Beining: You ran.

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Beining: Okay.

Det. Good: So if we're hearing from the neighbors that the

first time they heard about four or five shots in succession and then about two hours later-an hour and a half, two hours later-they hear four or five more shots in succession with a little pause and then

Det. Good: one single shot, those neighbors are just about right on,

JESSY ROTEN: Hmm-hmm. Det. Good: Right? From what you're telling us?

JESSY ROTEN: The-th-the pause must have been when I was

folding the stock because the fucking-the button that you push in,

Det. Good: Hmm-hmm.

JESSY ROTEN: it's real-it's something. It need to be oiled, I guess. And I couldn't push it in. I had to use my chin to pop-you know, fold the stock. And then as I was lifting it up like this because of the sling, you know, it's long, it goes all over the fucking place, so I was lifting it up like this and the round went off. And I held the gun. I looked at the house. I heard the kid o screaming. And I ran-ran back to my house.

Det. Good: How many rounds would you say you shot off total?

JESSY ROTEN: Twelve. Thirteen.

Det. Good: And you don't know where the other

JESSY ROTEN: I shot at

JESSY ROTEN: I shot at a tree in the middle of the alley three times.

Det. Good: Could you show us that tree? JESSY ROTEN: Hmm-hmm.

Det. Good: Okay. Did anybody-did you notice anybody coming out of their houses? Did you see anybody?

JESSY ROTEN: I wasn't-I wasn't even worrying about it. After-after I heard that little baby screaming, I was very, very worried. I didn't know what to do.

Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: Like I said, I had-I did not want to kill anybody

Det. Good: Let me

JESSY ROTEN: That was not-that was not my intention.

Det. Good: You heard that baby screaming. Did you hot-foot it back to your house, or just nonchalantly

JESSY ROTEN: I hot-footed it. Right.

Det. Good: How about the first time?

JESSY ROTEN: The first time, I just walked

Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: 'cause I was so mad and I didn't care at the time.

Det. Beining: Wh-why were doing this? Are you infatuated with the gun?

JESSY ROTEN: Am I infatuated with the gun?

Det. Beining: Were you infatuated with the gun, to go out there and shoot it so many times? Or was it just this rage?

JESSY ROTEN: It was just rage. I just wasn't thinking.

Det. Beining: What were you wearing last night?

JESSY ROTEN: These fatigues.

Det. Beining: Shirt?

JESSY ROTEN: Excuse me?

Det. Beining: Shirt?

JESSY ROTEN: I was wearing a brown shirt.

Det. Beining: Okay. Both, now

JESSY ROTEN: I was also wearing a black bomber jacket.

Det. Beining: You said the last time, you were wearing a black bomber jacket?

Det. Good: Where's the bomber jacket?

JESSY ROTEN: I threw it away.

Det. Good: Where?

Det. Beining: Where at?

JESSY ROTEN: It's in the green dumpster at my house.

Det. Good: At your house? Where's the dumpster at in relation to your house?

JESSY ROTEN: It-There is a green dumpster right-right by the stairs in the back door. It-it might be in the front of the yard since my parents are cleaning up. I don't know.

Det. Beining: I'm going to give them a call. Det. Good: Okay.

Det. Beining: Okay. You gonna keep talking? Det. Good: Yeah.

Det. Good: At what point in time did you put the gun where I found it?

JESSY ROTEN: In the morning. Det. Good: This morning?

JESSY ROTEN: Wh-when my mom came in and said 'What time did you get home last night?' And I said 'About five.' And she said, 'Well, there was a shooting down the road and there was like a drive-by or something.' And I was like, 'Oh, yeah? Well, what happened?' And she was like, "Well, some little girl got killed.' Naturally, I freaked out, wrapped the gun up in three garbage bags, folded the stock, put it in the garbage bags, whatever, went into the garage and put it underneath a bench. I threw away all my ammo.

Det. Good: Where'd you throw the ammo away at? JESSY ROTEN: It's in my bomber jacket pocket. Det. Good: In the-okay.

Det. Good: Do you know if there's any rounds in the clip that's in the gun now?

JESSY ROTEN: There's probably about six or seven, something like that. Some of them are (inaudible) hollow points and a few are just regular lead core.

Det. Good: Okay. If I understand you correctly, Jessy, and I want to make sure I understand you correctly, you did not go down there specifically to target that house because of the people that live there?

JESSY ROTEN: I did not go down there with the intentions of killing anybody, of shooting at that house at all, shooting at anybody's house.

Det. Good: Let me ask you this: Have you, in the past, or do you know of any of your friends in the past have had any words with the occupants of that house? Let me tell you what I'm referring to. When we spoke to the-we-we haven't had the opportunity yet to speak to the black man that lives there, but we spoke to his girlfriend who, of course, is white,

Det. Good: She tells us that approximately six months ago, they were outside their house and that-and she described it-a couple of skinheads were walking down the alley and that there was a verbal confrontation between her boyfriend, the black man that lives there, and these skinheads; that there was a lot of racial slurs thrown back and forth. Were you involved in that incident?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Good: Who else was with you during that incident?

JESSY ROTEN: Um, my friend Troy.

Det. Good: Okay. Who's Troy? Is he another affiliate?

JESSY ROTEN: No. He has a wife and two kids. He was just with me. That was Halloween night and we were out drinking. Drinking buddies.

Det. Good: Let's talk about the gun. JESSY ROTEN: Okay.

Det. Good: You tell me that about three weeks ago, you took it out of George's car. Did he keep it in the trunk?

JESSY ROTEN: Umm

Det. Good: Or did you take it from his house?

JESSY ROTEN: It was in his trunk,

Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: and I took it.

Det. Good: Did George have any other weapons?

JESSY ROTEN: He has a shotgun.

Det. Good: How did George come in possession of that gun? Do you know where that gun came from?

JESSY ROTEN: Um, a gun shop.

Det. Good: Okay. Is it legitimate,

JESSY ROTEN: Um

Det. Good: does George own it, or

JESSY ROTEN: I-I own it.

Det. Good: You bought it from George?

JESSY ROTEN: It's mine.

Det. Good: How much did you pay for it?

JESSY ROTEN: Three hundred dollars.

Det. Beining: I thought you told me before that-you told us a

little earlier that you took it and George didn't know you had it. That you took it out of his trunk.

JESSY ROTEN: I'm being straight up. I bought it for three hundred dollars.

Det. Good: When did you purchase the gun? JESSY ROTEN: About three weeks ago. About a month ago.

Det. Good: So, when I go to talk to George, he's going to be able to confirm that you, in fact, gave him three hundred dollars for that gun?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Good: Okay. How about ammunition? Did he kick in ammo with it?

JESSY ROTEN: No.

Det. Good: or did you-where'd you get the ammo at.

JESSY ROTEN: No, I bought ammo myself.

Det. Good: Where'd you get that at?

JESSY ROTEN: All over the place. Wayne Roberts, several gun shops, um, you know, you can find ammo

Det. Good: Did you ever buy ammo from the guy over on fifty-o forth avenue around thirty-eighth? It's like a key and lock-type place? A to Z Lock?

JESSY ROTEN: A to Z Lock, A to Z Firearms.

Det. Beining: It's just west of twenty-fourth street?

JESSY ROTEN: No, I've never bought ammo from them.

Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: I went in there once, asking for prices on SKS and they were two hundred and fifty dollars, and I was like, you know.

Det. Good: The round we just took out of your bedroom, off your dresser, it's a fairly newer round. It's a seven-two-seven.

JESSY ROTEN: That's a seven point six two by thirty-nine.

Det. Good: Some of the casings we found this morning down on the scene look like they might have been old military rounds.

JESSY ROTEN: Corrosives.

Det. Good: Where did you get those from? Do you know?

JESSY ROTEN: Um, they came in bolt. I bought 'em in a canister at a gun show.

Det. Good: At a gun show?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah. I bought four hundred and sixty-three rounds for a hundred and eighty dollars.

Det. Good: Where did you do that.

JESSY ROTEN: It was at a gun show in Tampa. I'd give it a month ago.

Det. Good: Has anybody else fired that weapon since you've been in possession of it?

JESSY ROTEN: The gun range. Me and George went there once. He fired it off a few times at the gun range.

Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: No, those rounds were corrosive. Corrosive rounds are fired when they're wet.

Det. Good: Between-since you've been with us most of the

afternoon, up to that point, did you tell anyone what you had done or what you had thought you'd done?

JESSY ROTEN: Everyone knew, man. George called my house this morning and he said, 'Dude, you know, the little girl's dead.'

Det. Good: How did George know that you were out shooting, though?

JESSY ROTEN: How would he know? Det. Good: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: Because he came back. They heard-they heard me shooting off rounds from three blocks away.

Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: Dana, Eric and Julie did.

Det. Good: Right.

JESSY ROTEN: And I it's a pretty goddamn loud gun, you know?

Det. Good: Right.

JESSY ROTEN: And they went back there and told George and in between that time

Det. Good: Well, where was George at? JESSY ROTEN: They were at-George was out to Todd's party.

Det. Good: Okay. To your understanding, when Dana, Julie and Erica had left, did they go back to Todd's house?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Good: Okay. So they go back to Todd's house and they tell George you're out

JESSY ROTEN: Yes

Det. Good: being stupid, shooting his gun off?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Good: Okay.

JESSY ROTEN: He came to my house

Det. Good: George did?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes. He came to my house after I was confronted by the police outside in my yard, telling me that it was fucking stupid, 'where's the gun at,' 'fucking Jessy just go to bed and get some sleep. Forget about it and everything will be alright.' After he left, because he was really mad at me for doing that, I sat there and it just went in one ear and right out the other. I went back down to the end of the alley and I shot off some more rounds.

Det. Good: Okay. Think of this next question real hard, okay? When George was at the house, did he at any point walk down that alley with the gun?

JESSY ROTEN: It was just me. I didn't want that little girl in there to die. I didn't mean to shoot her. Had that been my intentions, you guys wouldn't have caught me by now.

Det. Good: Well, like I said to you before when we were at your house, okay, I'm sure you didn't wake up yesterday morning with the intentions of murdering a six-year-old child.

JESSY ROTEN: I didn't. I didn't murder her, man. I didn't mean to shoot her.

Det. Good: I understand that. But your negligent act caused her death, and I think you're aware of that.

JESSY ROTEN: Yes, I am.

Det. Good: Your negligent act also caused great, great bodily harm to her twin sister. I mean-we haven't been pulling any punches with you all afternoon and I'm not gonna start now, Jessy. Okay? We're fortunate that we're only sitting here, talking about one six year-old and not two six year-olds and a four year-old because there were three kids-to be honest with you, there were four kids in that room: there was also a three year-old in that room, and that bullet just missed the three year-old's crib. And the three girls that got hit were all sleeping in the same bed. So we're lucky we're not sitting here talking about four victims, that we're only

talking about the death of one victim and the injury of two others.

Det. Good: While you were out, Jessy told me there should be a couple of rounds left in the clip that's in the gun, but the ones that he had in his room he put in the pocket of the bomber jacket when he threw the jacket in a dumpster.

Det. Beining: Okay, good. I told Madden to look for the jacket.

Det. Good: He also told me that

(End of Side 1) Det. Good: This is side two of the tape.

Det. Good: when they left, they went back to Todd's and they told George and Todd and everybody else that was at the house what Jessy was doing, as far as the rounds they heard him wrapping off

Det. Beining: Uh-huh

Det. Good: the first time.

Det. Beining: Hmm-hmm.

Det. Good: George came to the house in between the first

incident and the second incident and confronted him and, you know, but Jessy tells me that George didn't-George had never left the house with the gun, that it was strictly him.

Det. Beining: You sure?

JESSY ROTEN: You know, that's the honest truth. George did not touch that gun last night.

Det. Beining: When you took that gun from George,

Det. Good: Well, that's been clarified also. He did, in

fact, buy the gun for three hundred dollars from George three weeks ago,

Det. Beining: Okay.

Det. Good: and he said George can confirm. The ammo, he said the newer stuff he'd bought from Wayne Roberts. The older stuff, which looks like the army stuff, he bought at a gun show over in Tampa a couple of weeks ago. He bought I think about a

hundred-he called it a canister, a regular military type canister from

Det. Beining: Where are all those at?

JESSY ROTEN: They're all in my pocket, the bomber jacket pocket.

Det. Beining: You said you bought a military canister for them?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah.

Det. Beining: Well, how

Det. Good: He said they had been shooting--him and George

were out shooting a couple of weeks ago at a gun

Det. Beining: Oh, you were out shooting. Where at?

JESSY ROTEN: Antelope club. You can go down there and squeeze off (unintelligible)

Det. Beining: I was gonna say, that's a lot of shells to be in a bomber jacket.

Det. Good: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: Well, there's-there's about a hundred rounds in my bomber jacket.

Det. Beining: Okay. Um, when you got that gun from him, and

you took it out of his car, where did he have it in his car?

JESSY ROTEN: Uh, I guess he had it in the trunk. Det. Beining: Were you there when he took it out?

JESSY ROTEN: No, he brought it in up to the house and a colt and there was my first payment.

Det. Beining: How much did you pay him for it?

JESSY ROTEN: Three hundred dollars.

Det. Good: How much did he want total?

JESSY ROTEN: Three hundred.

Det. Beining: You evened up on the money with him?

Det. Good: Jessy told me while you were out that after he got home and realized what had happened that he

stuck the gun in three plastic bags, took it out, put it where we found it.

Det. Beining: Same type of plastic bags I was walking around with in your room?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah,

Det. Beining: Those white ones?

JESSY ROTEN: Those ones you- used for

Det. Beining: Okay.

Det. Beining: The, uh, the gun oil and all that, was that part of the deal?

JESSY ROTEN: No, I bought that from Walmart. Det. Beining: Oh, okay.

JESSY ROTEN: That was just a simple, easy way to clean out corrosive and sediment.

Det. Beining: Let me ask you something: Why go down to that end of the alley to shoot the gun?

JESSY ROTEN: 'Cause I didn't want to go on my end of the alley. I didn't want to wake my parents up and it doesn't make any sense to me, either. I don't know. I went down there and just squeezed off a few rounds.

Det. Beining: You sure you had no beef with those people there?

JESSY ROTEN: I had no beef with those people.

Det. Beining: Did you ever talk to them

Det. Good: Yes.

Det. Beining: before?

Det. Good: I wanted to tell you that too. Jessy did tell me that the incident that was referred to us six months ago? He was involved in that also.

Det. Beining: Uhm

JESSY ROTEN: There-there was that one incident and after that, I never-I saw them outside a few times, and he saw me walk by and no words were ever exchanged and nothing had ever happened since then.

Det. Beining: Did you talk about what he called them and everything?

Det. Good: Hmm-hmm.

JESSY ROTEN: That wasn't me talking.

Det. Beining: Who was that?

JESSY ROTEN: It was a friend of mine who said 'Fuck you,

nigger boy,' and the black guy said, 'Yeah? Is that what you think?' And that was the only thing that was said and we walked away.

Det. Good: Who was the friend? I told you to be straight with us. Who was the friend?

JESSY ROTEN: It was George.

Det. Good: Okay, so it wasn't Todd, like you told me? George was with you?

JESSY ROTEN: No, Troy was with me

Det. Good: Troy was with

JESSY ROTEN: Troy was with us as well, right.

Det. Good: So, it was you. Troy and George.

JESSY ROTEN: Hmm-hmm.

Det. Good: Did you specifically go down there, looking for trouble that time, knowing that they

JESSY ROTEN: No. Det. Good: were an interracial family.

JESSY ROTEN: No. It was Halloween night. Me and Troy and George were walking around, you know, drunker than shit, two or three in the morning. We go walking. We were on, I guess it's fifty-sixth avenue, walking down this way. We made a left and came into the alley.

Det. Good: Hmm-hmm.

JESSY ROTEN: and they were sitting-the black guy was sitting, standing right there, like smoking a cigarette, if I remember correctly, and he was staring at George and George started staring at him and George said, 'Fuck you, nigger boy,' and the guy said, 'Yeah? Is that what you think?' And George

flipped him off and we walked away cause I didn't want anything to happen that close to my house.

Det. Beining: Have you acted out any acts of violence on blacks in the past?

JESSY ROTEN: No. I can honestly say I-I have been in fights with blacks-one-on-one fights at school.

Det. Beining: Because of your beliefs?

JESSY ROTEN: Yeah. And I've never gone out with a bunch of

friends and gave a black guy a beating, you know?

Det. Beining: Hmm-hmm.

JESSY ROTEN: I've never done that.

Det. Beining: You sure George had nothing to do with this last night?

JESSY ROTEN: Absolutely positive George had nothing to do with this at all.

Det. Beining: You're telling us the truth? JESSY ROTEN: I'm telling you the truth.

Det. Beining: Okay. We're going to walk back down-we're going to take a ride back down there and we're going to walk through there again. Okay?

JESSY ROTEN: Can I smoke a cigarette first?

Det. Beining: Sure. You can even smoke a cigarette while we're down there. I have two cigarettes.

JESSY ROTEN: Okay.

Det. Beining: Umm, you do realize you're under arrest?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Beining: Okay. Now, do you realize there's no smoking in the county jail?

JESSY ROTEN: Yes.

Det. Beining: Okay. So you're going to have to work at cutting this, uh, this habit.

Det. Good: he's gonna go to PJAC first.

Det. Beining: Yeah, yeah, I would, you know. Okay. Is there anything else you want to tell us?

JESSY ROTEN: I'm sorry for lying to you, I really am. If there's anything else you feel like you need to get clarified, ask me now,

Det. Beining: Okay. JESSY ROTEN: and I'll tell you the honest truth.

Det. Good: It's like we said to you earlier, Jessy. Okay? It's not us you have to be sorry to.

Det. Beining: That little girl you have to be sorry to. That family.

JESSY ROTEN: I know. Det. Beining: Your mother.

Det. Good: You ruined that family. You've ruined your family.

Det. Beining: You ruined Dana. Now we've got to go back and talk to Dana because she said she didn't see anything.

JESSY ROTEN: I know.

Det. Good: And to be quite honest with you, and to sit here man-to-man with you, I don't think any less of you, I don't think any more of you. Okay? Because I don't know you. But, yeah, I am a little pissed off at you because the last thing you said to your mother before we left your house was-you looked your mother right in the eye, with her crying, and you said, 'Mom, I didn't kill that little girl.' You lied to her then. You gotta get this right with you, man! Okay? You gotta get this right.

JESSY ROTEN: I didn't mean to kill that little girl, though.

Det. Beining: Jessy, you know those rounds you were shooting in the air come down with such force they could kill somebody.

JESSY ROTEN: I didn't know that.

Det. Beining: They just don't float back to earth, soft. They come down with just as much speed as the way they went up to get that high. Okay? It could've come down on cars. It could've come down on your house. It could've gone through the ceiling of your house and killed your mother. Those things go up. They gotta come back down.

Det. Good: It's the law of physics, man: What goes up must come down. Okay?

Det. Beining: And it took so much to propel it that high, it's just going to take just as much by the time it hits that bottom. It's gonna be moving. Okay? Once that round leaves that gun, there's no way to get it back. There's absolutely no way to get it back. You can't be doing things like this.

Det. Good: Well, and guns don't accidentally discharge.

JESSY ROTEN: I know, I was shooting the gun, Det. Beining: Yeah.

JESSY ROTEN: and I pulled the trigger. I didn't mean for the gun to be pointed at the house.

Det. Beining: You know those rounds, like you're shooting, boy, they could go through a tree. You know, you're plowing rounds into a tree. What's on the other side?

JESSY ROTEN: I shot down at the base, stump of the tree. I made sure of that.

Det. Beining: Well, I'll tell ya. When you do what we do, you see bullets go. in the craziest directions after they hit the first thing they come in contact with. They just, whew! You just don't know where they're gonna go. Just because we wear a gun on our side everyday doesn't mean we can go out in the back yard and shoot it in the air. Okay? It's so much liability involved. Once that bullet leaves that chamber, boy, it's gone.

Is there anything else you want to say? JESSY ROTEN: This had nothing to do with that family. Det. Beining: What?

JESSY ROTEN: This had nothing at all to do with that family. I wish-well, this is probably typical of someone who's in my situation, but I really wish I could give that child's life back because I believe no matter what race or whatever you are, you should have a chance to live and do something good for your people and your family.

Det. Beining: Well, unfortunately, this little girl's not going to be able to do that because her life's over. And we're not sure what's going to happen with the other one yet. Okay?

Det. Good: You know, unfortunately, Jessy, and I said this

to your mom, I-we would probably have a hard time showing that this was strictly a hate crime, that you went down there specifically to harm those people. So, I've got to take your word that you went down there. That you were just pissed off at the world at that point in time, and that the gun just happened to be pointed in that direction. But it's like I said to your mom, with your beliefs-and I'm not chastising you for your beliefs, you're entitled to those beliefs-

JESSY ROTEN: Hmm-hmm

Det. Good: but with your beliefs, if you had a beef with those people, that's between-that child, okay, six years-old, she couldn't decide how she came into this world. She couldn't decide that she came into this world under a mixed relationship. Okay? And if you disagreed with him and her because of the way they were living, because of the fact that he was black and she was white, you're entitled to those beliefs. Okay? But when you involve children, those kids didn't ask to come into this world under that situation.

Det. Beining: They're probably too young to know what predjudice is.

Det. Good: And that's the shame in this whole thing. JESSY ROTEN: I didn't mean to shoot the house.

Det. Beining: Okay. This concludes the interview with Jessy Roten. Time now is 1803 hours .