He Shot Her, Judge Watched the Video. Here's What She Saw. Sentencing Hearing - Jury Reacts

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: I did what I heard. I tried to help her. I asked somebody to call number one. I tried to help. [00:00:19] Speaker 2: Structure, purpose, and a chance to serve his country. At home, he also helped care for his special needs twin that is disabled. He also helped me at home. I have restrictions because of a back injury, and he also helped me to make sure that his brothers' needs were met, and me as well. Since this tragedy, I have seen him crushed by the weight of what happened. I have heard the sorrow in his voice and him struggle with no one. A life was lost and will live with him for the rest of his life. He is not a monster. He is my son. A young man that made a devastating decision and is now facing the consequences of it. He is capable of remorse. He is capable of growth. He is capable of change. I respectfully ask the court to consider this. It's his first offense. He has taken responsibility. He still has the ability to reflect, to grow, even with whatever sentence the court believes is appropriate. I respectfully ask the court to consider who he has been his whole life. Not only the worst decision he has ever made, he has a loving support system, his family, friends, and church family. Thank you for allowing me to speak. [00:02:21] Speaker 3: Okay. Thank you for your comments. Thank you. Okay. Mr. Nelson. [00:02:32] Speaker 4: Thank you, y'all. To the family, to the Brian Jones, as well as to the family of Darren Hobbs. Y'all, I'm going to take liberty. I was listening to the news today, [00:02:46] Speaker ?: and the, [00:02:49] Speaker 4: I'm going to get to the subject. What I understand now, why there's so much mistrust in the media. They reported the facts in complete reverse of what happened. [00:03:02] Speaker ?: And I'll just ask the media to, but they report a story [00:03:05] Speaker 4: if they report the facts as they are known and not make up facts. They reported that Mr. Hobbs was chasing Ms. Jones, which is completely opposite of the reality. I think that was on Channel 8, if I'm not mistaken. Your Honor, the day of August 3rd. Let me ask you this. [00:03:28] Speaker 3: I recited the facts. Yes. Do you believe the facts to show? [00:03:32] Speaker 4: Yes, Your Honor. [00:03:33] Speaker 3: And you too, Mr. Boyko, correct? Correct, Your Honor. All right. I want to make sure that the statements that I made in court today aren't exactly what I saw in the video as to what happened. [00:03:49] Speaker 4: They are, as you stated, the correct facts, Your Honor. And I'm not going to recite what you saw in issue 6, but I do want to talk about what led up to this. The Honor, as the process indicated, this relationship was an off-form relationship. On August 3rd, Mr. Hobbley and Ms. Jones had an exchange on texts. They had previously had a conversation, and Mr. Hobbley had sent a text. It was probably the, out of 100 textbooks, it was the final text. It indicated that they were done. He wasn't mean, it was just he got to the point where he recognized that this relationship had come to its conclusion. But that they began months before. And it's part of the what ifs. In this case, it has so many what ifs. Mr. Jones had come to Mr. Hobbley's mom's house. And the first what if, there was an encounter where she assaulted my client. Police were called. Mom says, look, I know you all in this relationship. You're staying in my house. I do not want this drama. I want this to end. First what if, Mr. Hobbley had listened to mom that day. The police were prepared to arrest Ms. Jones and Mr. Hobbley refused to charge to follow through on the accusation. Police said, look, you've attended at your house. If you want her there, we can't make her leave. Mom says, Darren, I don't want this drama. You're going to have to leave. You're going to have to leave. He went to stay with his dad for a season. He came back to the home. The relationship had his up and down. I reiterated a lot, I stated a lot of this in the sentencing memorandum. The honor, on the 4th of August, is Mr. Hobbley's intent to go to the auto zone because he's having difficulty with his car, the battery. He's having problems getting the car started. So he woke up with an entire different outlook on life. Mom greeted his mom. Of course, you cited the facts because they encouraged he left in the driveway, pulled out, he goes to the auto zone, there was a vehicle rapidly approaching behind him. Even when he, as the car closed in on him as he was driving down Libby Road, east toward Roxanne, he drove through the Shell gas station which is on the southeast corner, southwest corner of Libby and Warnsville Heights. He drove through the gas station. The vehicle followed him, drove through the gas station. Fortunately, the light was holding everybody. They drove through the gas station out under Warnsville Heights Boulevard, Warnsville Heights, towards Roxanne. Got Roxanne, he made a sharp right. Vehicle made a sharp right. There was even an occasion where the Jones vehicle drove between my client and the bus and knocked on his window. That's how intense this was. The first what if. Here's where the what if started. He could have made a better decision and called the police. There's a different police station that's not far from where he made the turn on the rock side. He could have gone to the better of the police station. The second of the big what ifs. As he drove down the street, his mind is thinking out, if I drive faster, if I just go back home. A number of what ifs, a number of things that he could have made decisions he could have made. But he was focused on getting his battery fixed for his vehicle. He's indicated what happened at the end of this. He said it in detail as per the videos. But the what ifs will haunt this family forever. He actually loved Riley. They even went to counseling. And the counselor said, I just can't work with you all because this is beyond what I can deal with. So this is what ifs mounted and resulted in a tragedy. This haunts him. I've talked to him. I've visited him so many times in the jail. He breaks down as we try to, we try to go through the facts of what happened. And if you look at the visitation road, he just had numerous visitations just trying to get him to a point where he could even articulate what went on. I looked at all these texts, Your Honor, and this young man, let's talk about this young man. [00:08:48] Speaker 3: Hold on one second. No more people in there. [00:08:51] Speaker 4: That's it. [00:08:52] Speaker 3: Okay. [00:08:53] Speaker 4: Let's talk about this young man. His mother raised him to be responsible. He helped her with her autistic brother. He had good examples. While his father was not in the home with him, he still provided guidance. He went to the Rhema Academy. He went to Trinity High School. His goal in life was to go to the service. But love sometimes makes people make different decisions. And instead of walking away from this relationship, he tried to stay in it. As I looked at all these texts, this young man, out of all the texts I read, hundreds of them, he only cursed six times. That was kind of caring to him. Six times, and one text had three of the curse words. So he was not that kind, he was not a wilding kind of young man. He's responsible. Could he make better decisions on the fourth? Probably could have made a lot of better decisions that would have, one, made sure that his life would not change. He's never dreamed of this kind of life. And he surely didn't dream of taking a life. he will be haunted by this for the rest of his life. When he speaks, he will apologize to his family, your honor. He did, in fact, serve as a pallbearer for Rodney Jones' mother at her services. That's the kind of young man he was. [00:10:30] Speaker 3: What I can't put together is why he had a gun. This is part of the problem with our society. That guns are so widely available and so unthoughtfully obtained and then taken and of course what do you expect when you have a weapon? I mean, that's why I ask people all the time, are you ready to kill somebody because that is the ultimate end of what a weapon means. And if you're not ready to take someone's life, you should never have a weapon. [00:11:07] Speaker 4: You are correct, Your Honor. I mean, [00:11:10] Speaker 3: that's the biggest what if, really, [00:11:11] Speaker 4: right? And I was anticipating that question, Your Honor. Your Honor, please don't take what I'm saying as a flip. The question I've been asked as I've defended people and as I've presided over cases as to why you have a gun, there are 520 million guns in circulation in the United States of America. 520 million. There are 25 million AR-4 15 or salt type weapons in circulation in this country. More guns than citizens according to certain data. So the question you've asked is a legitimate question, but there's an alternative question. With that many guns circulating this, why wouldn't one have a gun? Now, that is not a pushback on you. This is something I've asked. Why are there so many guns in this? 520 million guns in circulation in the United States. And I'm not talking about this includes both those illegal and legal guns, which far outweigh the illegal guns. Now, in this case, I find it really classified as a ghost gun that you buy off the internet. And you don't buy it by going to somebody's backyard, sneaking up, doing some secret deal. They've purchased them on the internet. They've sent through the mail. So what you ask is a serious question, and we as a society as a country need to take a hard look at the propensity and availability and the ease of purchasing a weapon. But that seems to be our culture. Has it had terrible consequences? You as a judge who preside over numerous cases where the consequences were disasters both for the defendant and the victim. And this is another such instance. and that is a huge what if. I understand from my client that he had an encounter where he was attempted, a robbery attempted against him, which is the reason he had this gun. But once again, you've asked a much larger question that of course we will never be able to address in this limited context, but it deserves a serious discussion by leaders in our country as well as the community as to the availability and ease of getting guns. And you also raised another issue. Guns are not just props. They often end in causing tragedy for families that they have over our country. But Yarnes, I consider this young man, he's remorseful, he's prepared to pay the price. You have identified some other issues with this case and you stated correctly this was a involuntary manslaughter case. The statute reads it, the facts support it. We would ask your honor in your wisdom, and I agree with the mom who says what's appropriate. We would ask that, we're not asking, we're going to rely on your wisdom, and we ask that you impose the appropriate sentence pursuant to the facts. Now, we know everybody's not going to be happy. My client won't be happy. The family evicted me won't be happy. But we're going to lie on the wisdom that you have over the years of experience you've sat in that chair. Thank you, y'all, for listening and giving us the opportunity to address you in this way. [00:14:45] Speaker 3: All right, thank you. Okay, Mr. Hogeley, do you want to say anything? [00:14:51] Speaker 5: Yes, Your Honor. I would like to state something that the state has said that wasn't really accurate. They said that I ended up opening the door and putting on a firearm from my car. That's not what happened. Riley opened the door staring at the gun and she said she didn't care about the gun. She didn't care if I was mad. Staring at the gun. I tried to get her attention. She just kept staring at the gun. And then she lunged in across my body. I was stuck in my seat. I had a seatbelt on. I had the gun there, but not to hurt her or hurt anybody. I just carried it on my person when I was going anywhere. So when I was going into the auto zone, I planned on just having it on my person and not to hurt it. And she reached for it. She got scared. [00:16:12] Speaker 1: I did, but I carried her. I tried to help her. I asked somebody to call 911. I tried to help her. I didn't know what to do. [00:16:33] Speaker 5: and everything was so overwhelming. I just walked away. I just needed a new scenery. I walked away. So I walked away and I thought to hurt myself. I just had to, I made a bad decision and got rid of the gun, but it wasn't to avoid prosecution or indictment. it was, I just didn't want to hurt myself. I thought I think it was going to be okay. I just thought to myself, if she's okay, maybe she would have something to say to me, whether it will be good or bad, maybe she can have more questions. I just never [00:17:46] Speaker 4: thought. [00:18:10] Speaker 5: wanted to say to the family that I understand that my words cannot give back what has been taken from me or remove the memories we have all shared. Understanding in the anger, frustration, and resentment brought for me. I pray that the value of my words are receptive to their ears with a desire to give closure and possibly give. I deeply and wholeheartedly apologize for my involvement at the loss of Riley Jones. I wish that I would have known what I know now to do more to just prevent what happened. and every day what took place every day I think about what took place just to find a way out. But I'm just left with disbelief with reality and how it actually happened. causing some of my other so much any level of physical and emotional distress hurts. Because I'm Riley that's earlier in life [00:20:05] Speaker 4: makes a piece of me every day. [00:20:19] Speaker 5: once again I just once again I sincerely with all the love and remorse in my heart of Father Jay for the loss of Riley Jones. [00:20:33] Speaker 3: Okay. All right. Thank you. [00:20:38] Speaker 4: Donald? Yep. Let me stop off for one second. [00:20:41] Speaker 5: Yep. Thank you. [00:20:45] Speaker ?: Thank you. [00:21:15] Speaker 3: Okay. So I want the record to be clear about what I observed in watching the video and I suppose you could say like everything we do in this room now is on video. 20 years ago when I watched video it was hard to see what happened and that's not so much the case at this point in time so this is what I observed and what the facts reflected to me that at some point in time in the video you see Riley Jones following Mr. Hodley's car for a period of time as he pulls into the auto zone she pulls in directly behind him so he's blocked from being able to leave the auto zone at least by his vehicle again she goes up to the car door what I can see is a video from inside of auto zone it looks like she's upset her hands are you know making motions and Mr. Hodley remains in the vehicle at some point in time Miss Jones goes back to her car where her friend is and then immediately returns to Mr. Hodley's car when she gets there the door opens and she leans in the car and within seconds a shot's fired and she's on the ground Mr. Hodley gets out of the car he looks at her and then that's the state's video that's what they gave me then I pick up in the video of what the defense gives me of Mr. Hodley walking into the auto zone and saying you know you can see he's talking to somebody now we know he said call 911 he comes back out he bends down and looks at Miss Jones I don't know if he's rendering aid or if he's looking at her or what's happening and then he leaves the scene next I have video of Mr. Hodley both from the state and from the defense of the he's barely made it I don't think very far from auto zone from what I can tell and police arrive and he is taken into custody with no no resistance they put him in the car and he tells the story that I just told to law enforcement including that he put the gun in the sewer so this isn't something he tampered with evidence in the fact that he put the gun in the sewer but he if not immediately within the discussion with law enforcement he tells them that he put the gun in the sewer but he can't remember what sewer it was but from what I could tell from what law enforcement was saying there were only he was only in a small area so there weren't very many sewers for which they would have to look for the weapon so today is the first time I heard that he had tampered with the weapon I didn't read that in the PSI I'm going to assume that that's a correct statement by the prosecution in fact they found the weapon in I'm assuming in one of the sewers and he tells them exactly what happens after being read his rights and what he says in the police car is basically what you see on the video it's not different from that originally I thought there was an indifference to life which was troubling to me but as I thought about what happened I actually think he was more in shock than indifferent at some point in the video he asked the officer and it's very it's not real audible you can't hear it very well but he asked the officer how is how is Riley which clearly said to me he had no like he wasn't putting the pieces together that he shot her and she's not alive like that's kind of how I interpreted that why would you ask that question it was a strange question but that's how I interpret the evidence at least from what I've seen with regard to the letters it's clear that both of these individuals are loved by their families Riley Jones is loved by her family Mr. Hobley is loved by his family loved by their friends you know letter after letter about what good people they are and it's really unfortunate that we're here today and I attribute a lot of this to number one how young and unprepared they are to handle life just generally you can see it in the videos the videos that I'm provided of her going over to his house on prior occasions and what the nature of that relationship was and the videos that I was given by the defense support the fact and support what Mr. Boyko said that this was a relationship that had was tumultuous they probably shouldn't have been in it anymore they shouldn't have been together clear from the videos law enforcement had been to his house before this is a young love relationship he's 22 maybe 21 at the time I don't know she was I think 18 20 young not fully developed human beings this is why people Mr. Hobley's age shouldn't have a weapon they are not operating on full cylinders yet and you know this is a really tragic tragic case because we have two people who assume who presumably everybody loves and is you know has part of their family and helps their family he helps with his disabled son she helps with her siblings their Miss Jones mother has passed away there's all kinds of grief in that family it's just awful awful and there are many points as Mr. Nelson said in this situation that things could have been avoided on both sides none of it means that a death should have resulted in what happened so that's how I see the evidence that's what I believe the evidence shows with regard to the sentencing it's my job now to look at the purposes and principles of sentencing which is to punish the offender and protect the public from future crime by the offender using the minimum sanctions that I determine will accomplish this purpose without imposing an unnecessary burden on state or local government resources I'm to consider the need for incapacitation deterrence rehabilitation and restitution and the sentence should be commensurate with and not demeaning to the seriousness of the offender's conduct and its impact on the victim and consistent with sentences for similar crimes by similar offenders I am directed not to base my sentence on race ethnicity gender or religion these are the factors I'm to consider in determining whether the defendant's conduct is more serious under 29-29-12-B if the injury was exacerbated by the victim's physical or mental condition or age that does not apply if the victim suffered serious physical, psychological, or economic harm that does apply if the offender held public office or position of trust and the offense was related to the office or position that does not apply if the offender's occupation obliged the offender to prevent the offense or to bring those committing it to justice that does not apply the offender's reputation occupation or office facilitated the offense or is likely to influence others that does not apply if the offender's relationship with the victim facilitated the offense that does apply if the offender acted for hire or is part of organized criminal activity that does not apply if the offender was motivated by prejudice based on race ethnicity gender sexual orientation or religion that does not apply if this occurred in a domestic violence or assault case the offender is a parent or custodian or the victim was a family or household member or the offense was committed in the vicinity of one or more children other than the victim I don't think this is a domestic violence under the law as if you read what a house family or household member was that does not apply in this situation so two of the two of the nine factors apply under whether the conduct is more serious whether the offender's conduct is less serious there's four factors this court is to consider under 29 29 12c did the victim induce or facilitate the offense I do find that occurred here did the offender act under strong provocation I think there was provocation do I think it's strong enough to warrant the type of force used I don't did the offender did the offender did not cause or expect to cause physical harm that doesn't apply do substantial grounds exist to mitigate the conduct even if they don't constitute constitute a defense so that's a very difficult factor to weigh in this situation I do find that at least one of the four apply whether we're looking at recidivism so how does the court protect the public from future crime and recidivism meaning will the offender is the offender likely to commit another crime in the future these are the factors that I'm to apply there are five of them under 2929-12D did this offense occur while the offender was on bail awaiting sentencing on community control or PRC post-release control or after post-release control was unfavorably terminated no does the offender have a history of criminal convictions or juvenile delinquency adjudications no does the offender has he ever not responded favorably to sanctions previously imposed in adult or juvenile court the answer is no because he has no prior convictions does he show a pattern of alcohol and or drug use related to this offense and does not acknowledge it or refuse treatment there is no evidence that alcohol or drug use was a factor in this offense does the offender show no genuine remorse I do think he shows genuine remorse so none of those five factors apply when looking at recidivism to be more likely whether recidivism is less likely meaning he's unlikely to re-offend in the future under 2929-12-E there are again five factors the court is to consider does the offender have there are no prior juvenile delinquency adjudications that is true there are no prior adult convictions that is true the offender has led a law-abiding life for a significant number of years that is true the offense was committed under circumstances unlikely to recur that is unknown the offender shows genuine remorse I do find that is true so at least four of the five I can definitively say in this case are true that is what the court is to consider when imposing the sentence in this matter sir you are going to serve a sentence under the Reagan-Tokes law we talked about that you're going to receive a aggregate minimum sentence after I give you those sentences on the firearm specifications so I'll give you the aggregate minimum which we talked about to be the small number and an aggregate maximum sentence which we talked about to be the large number remember all right okay so once I give you your sentence and it does fall under Reagan-Tokes you will serve the firearm specification first and then the aggregate minimum sentence after that is done being served the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections can keep you incarcerated beyond the minimum term if it makes specified findings rebutting the presumption of release presumption of release means that after you serve the firearm in the small number you should get out that's the presumption of release however if the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections finds after holding a hearing pursuant to 2967.271 that any of the following apply they can hold you longer regardless of your security level if you violated institutional rules that compromise prison security or the safety of staff or inmates or that involve physical harm or threat of physical harm to staff or inmates and those infractions demonstrate a lack of rehabilitation and your behavior demonstrates you continue to pose a threat to society you could be held longer if you were placed on in extended restrictive housing at any time during the year preceding the hearing they could hold you longer if you are classified at a security level of three or higher you could be held longer if the release presumption is rebutted DRC the Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections may keep you incarcerated for a reasonable period as specified by DRC but they can never exceed the larger number the presumed the presumption of release applies to the additional period imposed by DRC and another hearing must be held to further extend your incarceration so if they hold a hearing they could give you a small number then hold it again see how you did small number give you more time see how you did up to the larger number after your release you are going to be on post-release control for a period of two to five years I think when I I think when I took your plea I might have said three to five but it's two to five do you understand that [00:36:50] Speaker 5: yes [00:36:51] Speaker 3: all right do you have any questions about that all right I think I said three to five so if I did I need to ask you do you want to withdraw your plea because I gave you a different number at that time all right okay so post-release control a supervision after serving a prison sentence in this case you will be on post-release control for two to five years if you violate that supervision you could go back to prison for up to one half of the sentence that you receive you could be charged with a felony called escape for failing to report to your parole officer they could make your supervision harder for you or longer do you understand yes all right your fines fees and costs are waived [00:37:33] Speaker 5: his credit [00:37:46] Speaker 3: for time served i have is 8-5-25 was he arrested on the fourth though yes okay 8-4-25 to 2-24-26 which is today's date so that's 205 days Thank you. All right, so the sentence on count one is one year on the firearm to be served prior to and consecutive with an aggregate minimum sentence of seven years on the underlying count to an aggregate maximum sentence of ten and a half years on the underlying count. Count five, 24 months. Count one in five to run concurrent to each other. You have an eight-year sentence to serve up to ten and a half years. You're ordered remanded and transported. So it's really important that you guys get the stories right. I don't know who didn't get it right, but it's really important to our system of justice and to making sure that the facts are correct. Are you the reporter on this? Yeah. It's a big deal. Yeah. The transference of what happened in this case by whoever the media outlet was who was chasing her is a big deal. That's not what happened. Right. Which is why I went over the cover. [00:40:26] Speaker 1: No, I appreciated that. And then... You guys have your... No, we're done. [00:40:30] Speaker ?: No, we're done. No, we're done. We don't have to be cool in the story, but... But the... But the... With that same thing, Channel 8... The Channel 8 that did it? Yeah, are you with that? [00:40:38] Speaker 1: No. [00:40:39] Speaker 3: I see. Whoever did it, they owe the public a correction. Yeah. They've done that to me in other cases, too. Oh, yeah. The story was absolutely wrong, and they owe the public a correction to make it so that your profession, just like mine, we weren't able to believe what we're doing and say, right? [00:41:01] Speaker ?: Absolutely. [00:41:01] Speaker 5: Well, I think the other thing is, you know, I mean, that you're lying, because if you get one thing that you're wrong, at any level, you lose the credibility of everything that you've said and doing things that are irrefutable. [00:41:16] Speaker ?: Exactly. [00:41:16] Speaker 2: So, I understand her. [00:41:18] Speaker 3: We understand her. It's super important. My daughter is in journalism now. She just got out of DePaul. So, I, like, am sensitive to what your job is, but I'm also, like, if it looks like I'm not doing my job, you know, we want people to trust in...