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The gang-related shooting death of 18-year-old JoJo Brandstatt at a West Valley City golf course nearly three years ago was fueled by greed and an "insatiable lust for drugs," prosecutors said Wednesday during closing arguments at a trial for one of the alleged accomplices in the slaying.
The killing also illustrates the "dangerousness" of gang life in Salt Lake County," prosecutor Stephen Nelson told a 3rd District Court jury.
Spencer Isaiah Cater did not pull the trigger, but he is on trial for first-degree felony murder for allegedly urging a 14-year-old boy to do so.
"Hurry up and do it," Cater, 20, allegedly told Antonie "Hunter" Farani.
Jurors began deliberating Cater's fate around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, were sent home for the day about 7 p.m. and were to resume deliberations 9 a.m. Thursday.
Cater, Farani and two others had gotten together that night of Feb. 6, 2009, with plans to pull some robberies to get money for drugs.
To that end, the group allegedly kidnapped Gregory Brown, 21, when he met them at a West Valley City Wendy's to trade marijuana for a gun.
Brown was told that if he was able to get $2,000 by the end of the night through robberies, they wouldn't kill him, according to trial testimony.
According to Brown, he called Brandstatt, who agreed to meet up with the group at Kearns Junior High School with the address of a gang member they could rob.
But when Brandstatt arrived, he was wearing a red T-shirt and red shoelaces, a color that indicated a connection to Norteño gang members.
Farani reportedly said, "Let's just finish off this Norte."
Cater allegedly tied the victim with duct tape. The group then drove to the golf course where Farani allegedly shot Brandstatt three times.
Nelson noted that Brandstatt's red T-shirt was printed with the slogan, "King of the streets." But Nelson said Brandstatt was no king in the last moments of his life.
"He was a cold, lonely, frightened young man [who was] resigned to his fate," Nelson told jurors.
The killers did not even grant Brandstatt's request to call his mother to say goodbye.
Afterward, the group then allegedly coerced Brown into using a pellet gun to rob three convenience stores.
During his closing argument, defense attorney Chad Steur attacked the credibility of the witnesses against Cater — which include a co-defendant and a jailhouse snitch — claiming they provided no competent evidence that Cater played an active part in the homicide.
Outside the courtroom, Brandstatt's mother, Elka Fernandez, said she is trying to let go of her anger against the group that killed her son, but also wants to see justice done.
Farani, who allegedly confessed to killing Brandstatt during a videotaped interview with West Valley City police, was certified as an adult by a juvenile court judge in December 2009. The certification meant Farani, now 16, would face trial in district court and serve time in an adult prison, if convicted. But Farani's attorneys claim Utah's juvenile certification statute is unconstitutional. The case is currently before the Utah Court of Appeals.
The two other defendants in the case have pleaded guilty to their participation in the crime.
Jeremiah "Jay" Ha'k Williamson, 27, pleaded guilty to first-degree felony murder and was ordered to 15 years to life in prison. Williamson admitted to driving the group around the evening of the crimes and drove Brandstatt to the golf course where he died.
Shardise "Kaiso" Malaga, 21, pleaded guilty to her role in the crime in March 2010 and was sentenced to serve 15 years to life in prison.
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