A 132nd District Court jury deliberated a little more than 30 minutes before finding a Mitchell County man guilty of felony assault, family violence.
The six-man, six-woman jury convicted John Berry Jackson, who was accused of choking his girlfriend, Kimberly Jaramillo, around midnight on the evening of Nov. 9. After the verdict was announced, testimony immediately proceeded in the punishment phase of the trial.
Trial testimony showed that Jackson and Jaramillo began an altercation that evening in the bedroom of their residence in the 3000 block of Ave. V in Snyder. Jackson was accused of choking Jaramillo with his hands during the course of the incident.
Jaramillo confessed she was a reluctant witness and had previously asked District Attorney Ben Smith to dismiss the charges against Jackson. Under prodding from Smith while she was on the witness stand Tuesday, however, Jaramillo testified that she and Jackson began arguing on the night in question and that escalated to the point that Jackson assaulted her, punching her in the face and twice choking her with his hands.
Photographs taken by police that evening showed deep red marks on Jaramillo’s neck and a cut lip allegedly caused by Jackson.
Also testifying for the state was Jaramillo’s daughter, Madison Jaramillo, who testified that she heard “muffled” sounds of an altercation taking place in her mother’s bedroom and called 911. Shortly afterward, Madison said her mother emerged from the bedroom with blood on her face and red marks on her neck and cheeks.
One of the Snyder Police Department officers who responded to the 911 call, Sabrina Salinas, testified that she first talked to the Jaramillos in front of the residence, then went inside to talk to Jackson. She found him in the bedroom and described him as “pretending to be asleep.” She and a fellow officer briefly interviewed the defendant, who said he had been cooking on the outdoor grill all evening and couldn’t have assaulted Jaramillo.
Smith also introduced a certified copy of a prior conviction for assault, family violence, against Jackson in Mitchell County, which elevated the Scurry County charge to felony status.
After both Smith and defense attorney Chris Hartman rested their cases early this morning, they made their final summations before the jury was handed the case.
Hartman hammered at apparent inconsistencies in Kimberly and Madison Jaramillo’s testimonies, mainly dealing with exactly how many people were living in the home at the time of the incident and how long Kimberly and Jackson had been in a dating relationship.
“There were mistake after mistake after mistake in their testimonies,” Hartman said. “You should be able to remember these sorts of things.”
Hartman also said that the photographic evidence was not indicative of choking.
“(Kimberly Jaramillo) testified that (Jackson) was digging his thumbs into her neck,” Hartman told the jury. “Do these photos look like someone dug their thumbs into her neck?”
Hartman urged the jury not to convict Jackson on the basis of evidence Hartman described as inconclusive.
“Domestic violence is a serious matter in this country,” he said. “We can’t afford domestic violence to be downplayed in a case like this.”
In his final remarks, Smith said there was no doubt that Jackson was guilty of the charges.
“Domestic violence is horrible and oftentimes, victims won’t cooperate, which makes the cases difficult to prosecute,” Smith told the jury. “But I could not turn my back on the case.”
Smith dismissed Hartman’s claim of inconsistent testimony as “peripheral” in the face of the central elements of the offense — that Jackson allegedly caused bodily injury to Jaramillo by choking her.
He defended Jaramillo’s testimony, despite the fact she was hesitant to press charges.
“In some ways, the victim in this case wasn’t sympathetic,” he said. “But we cannot let the defendant go just because of a reluctant victim. She was a real victim. That’s what a real victim looks like. They’re not always sympathetic.”
In conclusion, Smith asked the jury to send a message to the community that domestic violence would not go unpunished.
“Nobody should have to pay the price Kimberly Jaramillo paid that night,” he said. “No, it’s time for the defendant to pay the price, and the only way for that to happen is for you to find him guilty.”
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