One defendant was convicted on all counts Thursday afternoon while a mistrial was declared for the other defendant in a gang-related, murder conspiracy trial in Lenawee County Circuit Court.
Count Tereso the Almighty Trevino, 40, was found guilty of all four charges against him: open murder, conspiracy to commit open murder, solicitation of open murder and gang membership felonies in relation to the 2019 murder of Christopher Dickerson, 27, of Weston. A mistrial was declared for Trevino’s co-defendant, Andrew Erin Cecil, after the jury considering the case against him could not reach a unanimous verdict.
Regarding the charge of open murder, the jury found Trevino guilty of second-degree murder, which is punishable by up to life in prison with the possibility of parole. The open murder charge allowed the juries to determine the degree of murder.
There was no decision reached by Cecil’s jury. After nearly two full days of both juries deliberating, the jury was unable to come to a unanimous verdict of guilty or not guilty. Cecil, 31, was charged with the same charges as Trevino in relation to Dickerson’s murder on Jan. 21, 2019.
Because the jury was deadlocked and stated it had been deadlocked since deliberations began Wednesday morning, Circuit Judge Michael R. Olsaver and the trial attorneys agreed to declare a mistrial in Cecil’s case. Cecil will appear back in court June 7 for a pretrial hearing.
Trevino is scheduled to be sentenced June 16.
Trevino, who the prosecution argued was the leader, or the “first,” of the Latin Counts gang in Adrian at the time of Dickerson’s murder, and Cecil, who was incarcerated in the Lenawee County Jail when Dickerson was murdered, were each accused of conspiring to order Dickerson’s death. Neither of the defendants are accused of murdering Dickerson, nor has any testimony stated they were present at the murder scene.
The two men who have accused each other of killing Dickerson more than four years ago, Austin Richardson and David Taylor, are lodged in jail in relation to Dickerson’s murder and other crimes. They were two of 12 witnesses called to the stand by the prosecution during the trial.
Richardson has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Dickerson’s death. He is awaiting sentencing. Taylor has been charged with being an accessory after the fact in Dickerson’s death. He is accused of disposing of the gun used to shoot Dickerson.