Jury convicts La Crosse man of local drug charges

By RICHARD JENKINS

rjenkins@yourdailyglobe.com

Bessemer — After two days of testimony, it took a jury less than an hour to convict a La Crosse, Wisconsin, man of all three drug charges he faced in Gogebic County Circuit Court Friday.

Derrick Lee Menara, 43, was found guilty of possessing methamphetamine with intent to deliver, conspiracy to possess meth with the intent to deliver, and maintaining a drug house after roughly 45 minutes of jury deliberations.

Menara had been accused of traveling to the area to sell drugs in August 2020. While here, he had evaded law enforcement responding to a report of shoplifting from the Ironwood Walmart, had drugs and drug paraphernalia in his Ironwood motel room and was ultimately arrested in the Walmart parking lot several days after the initial incident.

Both attorneys had an opportunity to make their closing statements to the jury before it began its deliberations.

Gogebic County Prosecutor Nick Jacobs asked jurors to consider whether Menara’s statements changed between the times he told his story.

“(Menara) essentially told his story twice in this case,” Jacobs said, referencing statements Menara made to Ironwood Public Safety Department Sgt. Matt Sterbenz in the Walmart parking lot the day he was arrested and when he testified in his own defense Friday.

Jacobs asked whether the details changed between the two accounts could be due to Menara saying what was needed in the respective situations.

He also reminded jurors of the evidence he said showed Menara was guilty of the charges.

Menara’s attorney, Rudy Perhalla, told jurors that the case wasn’t just about drugs but whether his client was intending to distribute drugs.

“We have to keep our focus on what this case is. It is a possession case with intent to deliver methamphetamine. That is what the case is about,” Perhalla said. “It is not a case about possessing methamphetamine, it is not about that.”

Perhalla said Menara acknowledged he had addiction issues and a history with drugs, but reminded jurors that no evidence was submitted that Menara had drugs on him when he was arrested.

Prior to closing arguments, a single witness testified for the defense — Menara himself.

On the stand Menara said he came to the Ironwood area on Aug. 17 to visit a relative. He testified that he and the person traveling with him, Joshua Alan Perren, were checking into their Ironwood motel room when he thought he saw Perren and a relative of Menara’s who worked at the motel exchange what he believed to be drugs. Menara claimed he immediately left and went to a Hurley motel so he wouldn’t be around the drugs due to avoid using them.

Menara testified that after the initial shoplifting incident at Walmart on the night of Aug. 17, he hid out in the wooded area around the store before going to a friend’s place and the Hurley motel. He said the texts that appear to show him negotiating drug transactions that the prosecution presented as evidence Thursday were lies to raise money he needed to get out of town.

During is cross-examination, Jacobs attacked Menara’s version of events.

He questioned why, if Menara was in town to visit family, he never arranged the visit beforehand or saw them the several days he was in town prior to his arrest. Menara said he was estranged with the relatives and they didn’t want to see him.

He also questioned Menara’s claim that he immediately checked into the Hurley motel, showing Menara a receipt that showed he checked in on Aug. 19 rather than Aug. 17.

Jacobs questioned Menara regarding the text messages he sent, with Menara claiming some referred to marijuana and that some of the more incriminating messages may have been sent when he let a friend use his phone.

Menara claimed the statements he made to Sterbenz regarding what quantities of drugs certain people received were lies he told in hopes of being released if he gave the police something.

Menara is scheduled to be sentenced April 27, according to online court records.

Two other men face charges as co-conspirators in the case, Perren and Nathan Michael Noble.

Online court records show Perren is facing charges of possession of meth with intent to deliver and conspiracy to possess meth with intent to deliver in Gogebic County Circuit Court, and has a final pretrial conference scheduled for later this month. Noble is charged with conspiracy to possess meth with intent to deliver and maintaing a drug house, according to online records, and is scheduled to appear in court next month.