SANTA CRUZ >> In a packed courtroom Tuesday morning, Santa Cruz County prosecutor Tara George began her closing arguments in the months-long trial to determine whether 25-year-old convicted rapist and killer Adrian “A.J.” Gonzalez poses a physical danger to the public if he is released.

George began her final remarks by stating that people like Gonzalez, “wear masks to hide who they are, hide what they feel and to deceive others.”

She said that Gonzalez took off his mask when he kidnapped, raped and murdered Madyson “Maddy” Middleton in 2015 and that during the time he has been incarcerated, Gonzalez has shaped a new mask that’s “meant to trick us that he’s safe.” She called the 25-year-old, “the ultimate chameleon,” who will lie and manipulate to get what he wants. And that for 55 minutes on July 26, 2015, while he was committing the “horrendous and despicable crime,” he was the “truest version of himself.”

On July 26, 2015, Gonzalez, then 15 years old, kidnapped, raped and murdered 8-year-old Madyson at the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz. Gonzalez has remained in the juvenile justice system since his arrest in 2015 and was slated to be released on his 25th birthday in October 2024.

Before his scheduled release, the Santa Cruz County District Attorney’s Office petitioned the Santa Cruz County Superior Court, stating if Gonzalez was let out, he could be a danger to society. A jury trial to determine whether Gonzalez should be incarcerated for another two years launched in November 2024 and is nearing its end.

With a photo of Madyson on the screen in the courtroom, George began to lay out her 18-point argument about why Gonzalez remains a threat to society. Although Gonzalez stated in his testimony that the rape and murder of the 8-year-old wasn’t premeditated, George points out factors that could show otherwise. She highlighted how Gonzalez chose the 8-year-old because he knew she trusted him and because he could easily overpower her, which he told the court on the witness stand last week.

She reviewed the timeline of the crime and how Gonzalez avoided the monitored elevators at the Tannery Arts Center, chose to take the stairs as he lured the girl to his apartment and later dumped her body in the garbage and recycling room.

She described the horrific actions of Gonzalez over the 55 minutes Maddy was in the apartment — how he looked into her eyes as he choked and raped her after she turned blue and fell unconscious. She reminded the jury that Gonzalez slowly stabbed the girl three times in the neck and played an album by Django Reinhardt, which included the song “After You’re Gone,” to drown out the sound of her dying in the garbage can inside his kitchen and to “enhance the experience.”

She pointed out that after he had stabbed the girl, he washed the knife with hydrogen peroxide and put it back in the block, speculating that he or another could have used it to eat at a later date. George mentioned that about 15 minutes after disposing of Maddy in the apartment complex’s recycling bin, he walked to Chipotle to get a burrito bowl with a friend.

George played a clip of Gonzalez in July 2015 being questioned by police about his actions. Even after being shown footage of himself disposing of Maddy’s body in the garbage room, the then-15-year-old lied to the police. “I am being honest,” Gonzalez said to the officer after lying about the contents of the garbage can. “Did you find a body?” he asked.

She described the dispassionate way that Gonzalez described the crime and how fellow inmates testified that he talked about the rape and murder as if he was, “talking about squishing a bug.” She reviewed the physical and mental state of Gonzalez and stressed that he has “sadistic, necrophilic and pedophilic tendencies.”

Gonzalez watched the prosecutor with hands folded in his lap as she said that he “loves a secret,” and displayed a list of items that the 25-year-old lied about until he was confronted, including acquiring risqué magazines and speaking with people he wasn’t approved to speak with while incarcerated.

She pointed out that committing such a horrendous crime at a young age is unique and that counselors and clinicians working with him over the past nine years have tried to place a “square peg in a round hole,” adding that the treatments he received were not enough to rehabilitate Gonzalez.

“The inadequacy of treatment makes him dangerous,” she said.

After about two hours of impassioned arguments, George returned to the image of the mask and said that Gonzalez was “hiding who he was then and is hiding who he is now,” and that, “he was a physical danger on July 26, 2015, and will be dangerous to the public if released.”

Following George’s remarks, defense attorney Charlie Stevens addressed the jury for his closing statements. Stevens reviewed Gonzalez’s problematic upbringing, depression and suicidal thoughts before he committed the crime.

Stevens highlighted details in an effort to prove that Gonzalez didn’t plan the crime in advance such as the items he used: duct tape, scissors, a garbage can, bags and the kitchen knife, which were already in the apartment. Stevens pointed out that behavior such as going back to the garbage room after Gonzalez dumped the body shows that “he didn’t think it through,” and that the decisions Gonzalez made that day “were at the spur of the moment.”

The defense attorney focused on the treatment that Gonzalez has participated in since he was arrested, that he also received a high school diploma and has continued to educate himself through community college courses. He reminded the jury that Gonzalez was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and that lends to the emotionless way that he describes the events of July 26, 2015.

Stevens pointed out that although Gonzalez has broken rules while incarcerated, he hasn’t committed any violent acts and that he has been, “a model inmate every step of the way.” The defense attorney outlined the testimony of forensic psychologist and Stanford University professor Roger Karlsson, who told the court that the 25-year-old was unlikely to reoffend based on psychological testing.

In response to George’s assertion that Gonzalez masks his true self, Stevens said that, after witnessing Gonzalez speak on the stand over six days, that is for the jurors to decide. “Ultimately, we’d have to get into his head to see if he is fooling you and the clinicians, or if this is someone who truly regrets what he did.”

George was then given an opportunity to rebut Stevens’ closing arguments. She reiterated that the counseling and treatment Gonzalez has received has been inadequate and used an example to highlight her point. She said that if you take a car to a mechanic to repair the engine and instead they change a taillight, the problem remains.

“He has done work,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean he’s any less dangerous than he was in 2015.”

The jury then began its deliberations, which will continue Thursday.