Friend recalls night Herron died: 'I thought I would never see my kids again'

Prior Lake American

A Scott County District courtroom heard testimony Thursday from a friend of James Herron, a member of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community killed in November 2016.

Jasmine Ristamaki, said she went to Herron's house in the afternoon on November 22, 2016 after she had been at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel.

Ristamaki said several visitors were at Herron's house that night, some she did know and some she did not in addition to Herron's live-in girlfriend Semone Watson. Ristamaki said Watson was not happy that she was at the house. The group made spaghetti for dinner.

Derrick Zechariah Smith, 30, of Minneapolis, is one of four suspects charged in the 2016 fatal shooting of 42-year-old Herron, who lived on tribal land. Smith's bench trial kicked off Tuesday.

According to court documents, witnesses and police said the suspects came in through a sliding glass door and gathered some of the people in the house into the living room. Ristamaki said a man in a red, black and white mask told her to get on the ground and asked her if she thought it was a "f-cking game."

She said she was dragged by her hair into the living room and other individuals in the house were brought in and told to lay down next to her as well. Ristamaki said the suspects searched the others and found a gun and slapped her left butt cheek but did not take anything from her. She said the suspects asked Watson where Herron was and that Watson told them Herron was sleeping in his room.

"I heard footsteps going down the hallway and I heard a gunshot and James was screaming, 'OK, OK!'" Ristqmaki said.

Ristamaki said she kept her eyes closed the whole time in order to be able to tell the suspects that she wouldn't recognize them in the hopes they wouldn't shoot her. She said they brought Herron down the hallway and put him next to her head.

"I heard James screaming 'no, please, no please,' and a man asking him where the money was and the drugs were and that he knew he picked up today because he was watching him," Ristamaki said. "The man said he came for something, he didn't come for nothing."

Ristamaki said she heard another gunshot and that a man asked again where the money and drugs were before Watson told Herron to "just give him the money." Ristamaki said she heard the man countdown from five, another gunshot and then Herron make a snoring sound. She said the suspects left and she ran into the garage and wedged herself under her own car before she heard someone come back and say "Where you at, b-tch? I'm going to start shooting, b-tch."

Ristamaki testified that she came out of the garage with her hands up and her eyes closed. She said she told the suspects that her eyes were closed and that she hadn't seen them.

"I thought that would keep me alive," Ristamaki said. "I was afraid I would never see my kids again. That I would die."

She said a man grabbed her hair and dragged her to the stairway before putting a gun to her head and asking where the titles were. She said she told him she was just a visitor and didn't know anything.

"I heard all kinds of footsteps and then I heard a white male say, 'what's up with all the gunshots? I thought nobody was going to get hurt,'" she said. "Nobody responded to that."

After the suspects left, Ristamaki said she hid in the corner of the garage under plywood until police arrived. She said she went out and saw Herron on the floor, leaned up against a chaise recliner.

"I told him to stay alive and just keep breathing," she said.

On Thursday, the court also heard from:

• Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension forensic scientist Lindsey Garfield, who was one of the scientists who processed Herron's home and the suspects' vehicle for the bureau. The bureau responded to the crime scene around 6:30 a.m. on November 23, 2016 and took until 9:15 p.m. the next day to process the scene. The bureau found blood on the walls and floor of the living room and pillows and television in the master bedroom.

• Prior Lake Police Chief Mark Elliott who found additional evidence at Herron's home after a search several days later, including two gloves that were wrapped inside each other in the yard, a bullet in the living room and a casing in the master bedroom.

• Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension special agent-in-charge Don Cheung, who examined phones found at both scenes.

• Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension special agent Joseph O'Brien, who showed the court videos and photos recovered from one of the suspects' phones that show the interior of Herron's home. The court also looked at texts found in one of the phones.

Scott County Judge Christian Wilton is presiding over the trial.