Two days of trial in 3rd District Court concluded Thursday when a Fairpark man was found guilty of assaulting a rival gang member. The trial offered a glimpse into gang life on the west side of Salt Lake City.
Denny Duke Kandt, 20, was found guilty of assault, a third-degree felony, in a July 28 attack on rival gang member Dino Hernandez in the parking lot of a pizza restaurant on Redwood Road.Kandt also faces two murder charges and was out of jail on $250,000 bond when he attacked Hernandez, of Rose Park. Kandt and two fellow gang members ambushed Hernandez and beat him in the head with a rock. The wounds required 40 stitches.
Hernandez told the jury he pulled into the pizza restaurant parking lot to make a telephone call, responding to his beeper. He drove around the lot twice to see if was safe, he explained in his preliminary hearing testimony, a common practice when you have enemies.
He was attacked from behind and knocked to his knees by the three assailants. He didn't actually see Kandt, Hernandez said, but recognized his voice during the beating.
Hernandez reluctantly appeared in court, telling the jury he was subpoenaed by prosecutor Cy Castle and faced jail on contempt of court charges if he didn't testify. He didn't report the attack to police, Hernandez said, and didn't want Kandt prosecuted, fearing attack from rival gang members. Hernandez, the father of three children, did ask gang-unit detectives to watch his house.
By being forced to testify, first at a preliminary hearing and later at trial, he has been branded a snitch, Hernandez said.
"Yeah, I'm wearing the snitch jacket," he told the jury. "It's like having a target on your back."
Kandt faces murder charges in connection with the Jan. 19 shooting of two men in West Valley City in a dispute over a stolen car. Also charged with murder in the shooting deaths of Derek Shaw and Michael Allgier are Phillip Leishman, 18, and Summer Johnson, 16.
During jury selection Wednesday, members of rival gangs Diamond Street and Salt Lake Posse, clashed briefly in the hallway outside Judge Sandra Peuler's courtroom. Bailiffs ejected them from the building and kept the two groups separated for the rest of the trial.
Kandt, known as "Caspar" in his gang, didn't take the stand, but a friend, Michelle Garcia, testified that Kandt was with her and a group of friends all day on the day of the attack. She was the only witness offered by defense attorney David Angerhofer.
They first spent time in court where a fellow Diamond Street gang member, Armando Molina, was sentenced to prison for his part in the robbery of a restaurant, Garcia testified.
Molina, 20, held up a small westside restaurant in June 1995, spraying the inside of the Valparaizo Cafe on 900 West with a hail of gunfire from a Mac 11 assault pistol that killed owner Joel Flores, 54. The robbery netted Molina - whose gang moniker is "Dopey" - $1 and a pack of cigarettes.
"We were feeling bad after that," Garcia testified. "We were feeling bad for Armando and everyone involved."
After leaving court, they went to her house and watched a video and played Monopoly, Garcia testified, saying Kandt never left her house until 10:30 p.m., several hours after Hernandez was attacked.
Castle suggested to the jury in his closing argument that Garcia made up the story to cover for Kandt. Castle also told the jury he was reluctant to pursue the case at first.
"I wondered, `What's the big deal?' " Castle told the jury. "It's a gang member hit in the head by a rival gang member. They'd been fighting for several years, both as gangs and as individuals.
"I know they hate each other. For all we know, Dino (Hernandez) probably got what he deserved," Castle said, recounting some of their prior confrontations.
"It would probably be easier to put the two guys in a room and let them fight it all out. Whoever comes out we'd declare the winner, and we'd save us all a lot of time and money."
But Castle said everyone, even gang members, deserve equal protection under the law.
"Dino didn't deserve having his head smacked with a rock as justice," Castle said, suggesting it was "vigilante justice, leading to anarchy."
Angerhofer said the emphasis on gangs and revenge was "a red herring." He urged jurors to focus on the actual assault instead of its gang implications, noting Hernandez testified he didn't see Kandt during the assault and Garcia testified Kandt was with her all that day.
Kandt will be sentenced Dec. 5. A trial date on his homicide charge has not been set.