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By LeAnn Ralph, Reporter

A jury of 11 women and one man found 23-year-old Jacob T. Yang guilty on Thursday of the armed robbery at the Menomonie McDonald’s restaurant on Jan. 2.

The three-day jury trial originally was scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but continued for a fourth day and finally concluded at around 5 p.m. Thursday.

Yang was the last witness called in the case and testified on his own behalf late Wednesday afternoon.

Dunn County district attorney James Peterson contended that Yang went through the drive-thru on Jan. 2 at about 8:30 p.m., purchased a cheeseburger, went inside for a cup of water and then returned at 10:30 p.m. to commit the armed robbery.

Surveillance tapes show Yang entering McDonald’s to get a glass of water. Later on in the evening, the surveillance tape shows a robber with a similar build to Yang’s who was wearing a black ski mask and a black jacket.

Yang was arrested about a week later in Minnesota during a traffic stop involving the same yellow Toyota Celica he had taken through the drive-thru. During the traffic stop, officers discovered a BB gun that looked like a semi-automatic pistol stored under the passenger seat.

The BB gun appeared to be similar to the one used during the robbery caught on surveillance tapes.

No recollection

Yang testified that when he was arrested, he was not told for several hours why he was being arrested, and that when he was questioned by officers, did not immediately recall buying a cheeseburger at the Menomonie McDonald’s on Jan. 2 or going inside for a cup of water or to use the restroom.

“Do you remember every time that you’ve gone to the bathroom in the last two weeks?” he asked from the witness stand.

When Yang saw the surveillance tapes showing him entering McDonald’s to get a cup of water, he said he then believed he had gone inside because the surveillance tapes showed him inside the restaurant.

Yang also testified that after leaving McDonald’s, he joined a group of friends at BaDaBingz bar downtown sometime between 8:30 and 9 p.m. and had stayed there until closing time.

BaDaBingz

During his cross examination, Peterson noted that while Yang’s friends recalled he was at BaDaBingz, they could not definitely specify the time when they had seen him there. Yang could have easily slipped out of the bar, driven to McDonald’s, committed the robbery, changed clothes and driven back to BaDaBingz without anyone realizing that he had been gone, Peterson said.

Yang testified he had left the Celica parked in a lot south of BaDaBingz overnight, that he had stayed with friends and that one of his friends had brought him back the next day to get the car. He also testified that he had not locked the car after he arrived at the bar or while it was parked overnight.

Inconsistencies

Peterson repeatedly asked Yang why he had lied during the interrogation right after his arrest and why he had all but admitted to investigators that he had committed the robbery.

For example, during the interrogation on Jan. 10, Yang said he had not been home for two weeks, but in fact, he had been home to Menomonie on Jan. 2 as well as a number of times between Jan. 2 and Jan. 10, Peterson said.

In addition, why did Yang say he had not been home for two weeks if not to thwart suspicions that he had been the armed robber? Peterson asked.

Yang testified that while he was in the holding cell in Minnesota, he had overheard officers talking about a robbery at McDonald’s a couple of days ago.

Yang also said he counted the current week when he had been arrested as the “second week” and that by “home” he had meant home to his parents’ house in Menomonie.

Point of honor

Yang testified that at the time of the arrest, he and three of his friends had been coming back from taking one of his friends to the doctor. His friend was very ill, and since all four of the occupants of the car had been arrested, Yang said he had asked investigators that if he told them what they wanted to know, would they let his friends go?

Yang’s attorney, Michael Fairchild, pointed out that in the Hmong culture, family honor, taking care of family and friends and avoiding family humiliation are all extremely important values.

Telling investigators what they wanted to hear in order for his friends to be released from custody would be completely consistent with Hmong values of taking care of family and friends, Fairchild said.

Yang testified that as the “eldest son of an eldest son,” family honor was particularly important to him.

Surveillance tapes

Charles Barnard, a videotape expert, presented “overlay” tapes during the trial that showed superimposed images of the surveillance tape from the night of the robbery and subsequent tapes made during a walk-through at McDonald’s.

The overlay tape showed that the robber and Yang were not the same height and that there was a difference in height of one-and-a-half to three inches, Barnard said.

Peterson referred to Barnard and his tape overlays as being from the “Wizard of Odd” and that the overlays were nothing more than “smoke and mirrors.”

In addition, the fact that the robber held the gun in his left hand and that Yang was right-handed meant nothing, Peterson said.

Never recovered

Fairchild pointed out that the money stolen from McDonald’s was never found in Yang’s possession, that the clothing the robber was wearing was never found in Yang’s possession, that the laundry bag in which the money was stashed was never found in Yang’s possession, and that the BB gun found under the passenger seat of the Toyota Celica — which was driven by Yang and his brothers — was never positively identified as the gun that was used in the robbery.

Jacob Yang’s 22-year-old brother, Chang Yang, testified that the BB gun was his, that he had bought it in Minnesota, and that he used the BB gun to hunt and shoot pigeons since hunters do not need a hunting license to shoot pigeons.

Ski mask

The McDonald’s robber was wearing a black ski mask, something that was found in the Celica at the time of Yang’s arrest.

The ski mask found in the car and the one used during the robbery were of the type that pulled down completely over the face and had holes for the eyes and mouth.

Yang testified that the ski mask was in the car because the car was used to go ice fishing.

Several small items associated with ice fishing were found in the car, but if other ice fishing equipment were present, it was “lost forever” when the car was disposed of, Fairchild said.

Impound fees on the car eventually totaled $2,500, and the car was forfeited because the fees were more than the car’s value, he said.

Money band

A single money band found in the car was of the type used by banks and businesses to hold cash together and indicated that Yang had robbed McDonald’s, Peterson said, since the cash taken from McDonald’s had been bound together with money bands.

Chang Yang testified that he had owned a business in Brooklyn Park, Minn., called TC American Asian Food for about a year. He said he had gotten money from banks with money bands, tore the money bands off the cash while at the bank drive-thru in order to count the money, and then usually tossed the money bands onto the passenger seat or the floor of the car.

Chang said he had purchased the business in May of 2005 and had sold it in June of 2006. According to both Jacob and Chang, three brothers in the family passed the car back and forth among themselves. The car was registered to their father, Vichai Yang, of Menomonie.

Financial aid

Jacob Yang was a bimolecular and biochemistry major at UW-Eau Claire, but had transferred to the University of Minnesota last fall and was planning to start school there in the second semester last January. Yang said he had been in Minnesota looking for a place to live before school started.

Investigators speculated that although Yang’s problems with financial aid had been resolved, he was still desperate for money and that the need for cash had prompted him to rob McDonald’s.

At one point, there had been a mix-up at UW-Eau Claire’s admissions and financial aid offices about whether Yang was or was not a student at the university.

Yang testified that he was able to get a number of odd jobs. He was paid $10 an hour by a mover to help people move their possessions, had gotten several moving jobs every week and could, therefore, earn the money he needed.

Day four

Although the trial was scheduled to conclude on Wednesday, Yang finished his testimony at around 6 p.m. Judge William Stewart polled jurors for a show of hands to see which jurors wanted to keep going and which ones would prefer to continue the trial a fourth day.

A majority of the jurors wanted to wait until the following day to finish the trial.

Fairchild and Peterson wrapped up their closing statements at noon on Thursday. The jury deliberated and finally returned a verdict at 4:30 p.m.

During their deliberations, they asked to see a number of exhibits, including pictures of the floorboard in the Celica, transcripts of police interviews with Yang and the money band found in the car.

After Judge Stewart read the verdict, he instructed the court clerk to set a sentencing hearing in about six weeks. He also revoked Yang’s bond, and Yang was immediately taken into custody.

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