A Denver jury must decide whether anti-gang activist Terrance Roberts, a former Bloods gang member, had really left behind the violence he publicly discouraged or was so effective in his activism that he had become a target of the very gang to which he once had belonged.
Those interpretations of Roberts’ work in the Park Hill neighborhood are on display in Denver District Court as he goes on trial during a confrontation on Sept. 20, 2013. Roberts is charged with first-degree attempted murder and first-degree aggravated assault.
Attorneys gave their opening arguments Wednesday in a trial that will probe the gang culture inside Park Hill, a community that for years has struggled with drugs and violence. Already, neighborhood loyalties have been tested among witnesses, including another activist who admitted he did not want to testify but was compelled by a subpoena.
At the time of the shooting, Roberts was seen as a sign of hope, a former gang member who was working to improve his neighborhood and the lives of the young people who lived there.
His arrest bewildered his supporters, including public officials and police who had worked with him.
The shooting happened in front of the Boys & Girls Club in Holly Square, the centerpiece of the Park Hill neighborhood, just before a peace rally that Roberts had organized.
On Wednesday, Alma Staub, a prosecutor in the Denver district attorney’s office, told the jury that Roberts and Jones had gotten into an argument before the event.
Jones was turning away from the confrontation when Roberts pulled a 9 mm handgun from his waistband and shot Jones in the back.
Jones fell, skidded across the ground and lay motionless in Holly Square, Staub said.
“Witnesses will tell you Terrance Roberts stands over Hasan Jones, who is on the ground because he has been shot, stands over him and shoots him two more times,” Staub said.
Afterward, Roberts tossed a folding knife onto Jones’ limp body. Later, Roberts would tell police that the knife belonged to Jones, but investigators found Roberts’ DNA inside the knife, not Jones’, Staub said.
Three witnesses to the shooting told the jury that Roberts first fired as Jones turned away and that Roberts stood over his body, firing more rounds and yelling at him.
Marshal Seufert, Roberts’ public defender, said tension had been brewing between Roberts and the Bloods and, that day, Roberts truly believed the gangsters were coming to kill him.
Before the shooting, word had been spreading through the neighborhood that the Bloods no longer were on Roberts’ side. He was accused of being a snitch after people saw him sweeping shell casings from a sidewalk after a shooting and because of security cameras on the roof of his office.
People also were angry at Roberts for bringing National Geographic’s “Drugs Inc.” television show into the neighborhood, which cast Park Hill in a negative light and brought unwanted attention to the gang, Seufert said.
“You’ll understand by the end of the trial being a former gang member is tough,” Seufert said. “Being a former gang member who helps the police is a lot tougher. Being a former gang member who helps the police and who locates himself in the center of the Park Hill Bloods is even tougher still.”
Just before the shooting, a Blood had openly called Roberts a snitch. Then someone yelled from a red pickup truck, “On Bloods, you’re going to get yours in a minute.” Both were direct threats, Seufert said.
Before his arrest, and lead other gang members away from the lifestyle. He formed Prodigal Son, a non-profit, anti-gang youth organization.
He also led a charge to transform Holly Square, the center of the Park Hill neighborhood, after it was in May 2008.
Roberts had even counseled Jones, who was a gang member.
On Wednesday, Jones, who is confined to a wheelchair, refused to testify on behalf of the prosecution.
facing a charge of child abuse resulting in death for the August 2014 death of 2-year-old Ny’Ari Hines, who was his girlfriend’s daughter.
Gregory Daniels, an attorney for Jones, said his client did not want to cooperate with Denver prosecutors who previously tried him on attempted murder charges. Jones was in July.
As Jones agreed to be punished rather than speak, he sat just inches from Roberts. Neither man looked at the other.
Noelle Phillips: 303-954-1661, nphillips@denverpost.com or @Noelle_Phillips
