Woman charged in 2016 Herron murder testifies she didn't want to through with it

Prior Lake American

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

Brandy Jaques has already pleaded guilty to second-degree intentional murder and is awaiting sentencing. Part of her plea deal was to testify during the trial of Derrick Zechariah Smith, 30, of Minneapolis, who is one of four suspects charged in the 2016 fatal shooting. Smith's bench trial kicked off Tuesday.

Jaques said she has known Smith since 2012, Patterson since two months prior to the robbery and met Robinson that night and didn't learn his name until she was indicted in the murder. She said her and Smith were friends and that he would come over to her house frequently.

"I'm scared to be here," Jaques said. "I don't want to be here. I'm afraid of Derrick. I know who Derrick is."

Jaques said she went to Herron's home four times — the first time she went with somebody else to buy "dope," a second time to get high with residents of Herron's home, a third time to buy marijuana and the fourth time was the night of the robbery.

Jaques said Smith went with her to buy marijuana on the third time. She testified that she did not hear about the robbery plan until the day of, on Nov. 22, 2016 and that Smith told her of the plan. She said she told Smith she didn't want to go, but that he then punched her and told her she was going because he did not know how to get to the house without her.

"He told me, 'you're not gonna make a fool out of me,'" Jaques said.

Jaques said Smith, Robinson and Patterson met at Patterson's home before driving to Herron's home in a gray Buick owned by Smith. She said Smith drove initially but then Smith pulled over and had her drive.

Jaques said she intentionally pretended like she did not know where the house was and instead kept looping through the parking lot at Little Six Casino. She said Smith hit her on the head at that point with an object she believed to be a gun.

"He was like, 'b-tch, I know you where the house is at, go to the house,'" Jaques said.

As Jaques gave her testimony, Smith shook his head.

Jaques said everyone was dressed in dark clothes and that she parked by the side of the house where Smith got out and retrieved a black backpack from the trunk and started handing out gloves and masks. She said she received a pink mask and had to go back a few minutes later for gloves and that Robinson wore a neon green mask whereas Smith and Patterson both had black masks with a skull image on them.

Jaques said Smith started giving out assignments of what specifically to look for and that her job was to look for titles and keys. She said she showed them pictures and videos of Herron's home she had taken a few days earlier.

Jaques testified that she told Smith that she didn't want to go in again after seeing the number of cars parked around the home and that Smith told her she didn't have a choice.

She said the group entered the home through a sliding back patio door on the deck upstairs that Smith got off the track with a knife. Jaques said she went straight to the office and started going through desk doors and throwing items in a black case, including titles, keys, meth, flash drives and some knives. She said she heard a gunshot but kept going.

"I didn't think about it," Jaques said. She said as she went out, she saw somebody sitting by the couch on the floor but didn't look too closely. At that point, Robinson, Patterson and Jaques headed out to the car before Patterson said they weren't leaving without Smith, Jaques said.

Jaques went back inside, found him in a bedroom in the basement and told him it was time to go. When she went back outside, she said Robinson was gone. She said she drove to the driveway to see if anybody could find Robinson, whereupon Smith rummaged through a truck in the driveway.

She said nobody could find Robinson, so they all got back into the car and began to leave when they saw headlights behind them. After they had made a few turns and the car continued to follow them, Jaques said they believed the car to be the police. She said Smith was "freaking out in the backseat."

Once the squad car turned on the police lights, Smith called his family and said whoever was on the phone to tell his daughter that he loved her, Jaques said. As more police joined, Jaques testified that Smith told her not to stop.

Once the car was stopped, all of the suspects fled. Jaques said a K9 officer and the handler took her into custody and then to a hospital for treatment. She said she gave a false statement to police originally and that she and Smith came up with an alibi to blame the crimes on Patterson during a three-way jail call with Smith.

During her testimony, Jaques said that was not the truth, that Patterson or Robinson had never threatened or forced anybody to participate and that it was her understanding that Smith wanted to do the robbery.

Jaques said that she has gotten third-party messages from Smith, up until recently — from the mother of Smith's child, from Smith's not-quite girlfriend and then from a woman in Scott County Jail who had ridden with Smith down to Scott County for the start of this trial.

On Friday, the court also heard from:

• Scott County Sheriff's Office, Laura Wiger, who analyzed several of the cellphones recovered from suspects' car and attempted to recover data from the phone using a computer program.

• Mitchell Rodysill, who was a guest at Herron's home on the night of the robbery and murder. Rodysill said the suspects took his wallet and there was a countdown to the gunshots to Herron's knee and head. He said there were two men who made most of the calls and that the taller man shot Herron. Rodysill said he hid in the downstairs area until after police left and that he was the one who revealed himself to investigators from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.

• Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office Assistant Chief Medical Examiner Owen Middleton, who performed Herron's autopsy. Middleton led the court through photos taken during the autopsy. Middleton said the wound to the head was consistent with a shot with a gun very close to the skin. Middleton said he determined the cause of death to be multiple gun shot wounds and that the manner of death was homicide.

Scott County Judge Christian Wilton is presiding over the trial.