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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
June 3, 2008
GOVERNMENT FILES NOTICE IT WILL SEEK DEATH PENALTY IN CASE AGAINST GANG MEMBER
WICHITA, KAN. – Federal prosecutors have filed notice they will seek the death penalty if a Crips gang member is convicted of killing three people.
Jason Tisdale, 28, Wichita, is one of 28 defendants in a federal indictment charging Crips gang members with taking part in a racketeering enterprise that used violence to protect its drug trafficking operations.
“The defendant is alleged to have killed three people in order to advance his position and reputation in the Crips street gang and to advance the reputation of the Crips,” said U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren.
Tisdale, who has two prior felony convictions for violent crimes, is accused in a federal indictment filed in July 2007 with killing three people including:
– Tisha Jones, and the father of her daughter, Keith James, who were shot to death Feb. 3, 1998.
– Umanah Smith, who was shot to death Aug. 4, 2004. The father of four was shot to death in his home at 2532 N. Minnesota.
According to the notice prosecutors filed Monday, Tisdale killed Jones for the purpose of preventing her from testifying in a pending state robbery case.
Jones and James lived with their 7-month-old daughter in a duplex at 2226 S. Glendale. They each were shot several times by a killer who broke into their apartment and fled before the bodies were discovered. Three months earlier, Jones had been the victim of an armed robbery. She was scheduled to testify against a member of the Crips who was charged with the crime.
U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey authorized seeking the death penalty against Tisdale. The case against Tisdale was presented to the U.S. Attorney General’s Capital Case Review Committee. The review committee considers a variety of factors including mitigating and aggravating circumstances, other crimes committed at the same time as the capital offense, prior criminal history, the impact of the crime on the victim’s family and other relevant matters.
Tisdale and his co-defendants are charged in the first federal racketeering case ever filed in Kansas. Wichita police, federal prosecutors and a dozen other federal, state and local agencies worked together to develop a case using the federal Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to prosecute the Crips.
Tisdale is in custody pending trial, which is set for Feb. 24, 2009.
As in any criminal case, a person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The indictment filed merely contains allegations of criminal conduct.
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