A year ago, Gennaro Knox's mother said she wouldn't be satisfied with whatever sentence her teenage son's killer received.
After one hung jury and a second trial in which jurors took just an hour Friday to reach a guilty verdict for first-degree murder, Carol Knox has reconsidered.
"I'm very satisfied," Knox said. "It's about time something good came out of this tragedy."
Jeremy Jackson, 21, of Richfield was found guilty in Hennepin County District Court for his role in the gang-related shooting of Gennaro Knox on Oct. 5, 2006, in south Minneapolis. Jackson is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 8.
"When you go around shooting innocent people, we're going to prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said Friday.
A member of the Bloods, Jackson killed Knox, 16, who was mistaken for a rival gang member while bicycling with a friend in the 2400 block of Elliot Avenue S. Described as a shy kid, Knox was shot three times in the neck and head.
"My client still maintains his innocence," Jackson's co-counsel Thomas Harmon said after Friday's ruling. "He has to live with the verdict."
In September, a jury couldn't decide Jackson's fate, leading to this week's retrial. Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Hillary Caligiuri said prosecutors were determined to get a guilty verdict this time.
"We had to. We believed in the evidence," Caligiuri said.
Carol Knox thanked the attorneys and Minneapolis police homicide detectives Charlie Adams and Richard Zimmerman for their diligence. She said she hopes Jackson's guilty verdict sends a stern message to other gang members.
"You live by the gun, you die by the gun," Knox said. "That young man will have plenty of time to learn from the mistake he made."
Terry Collins • 612-673-1790
