Evidence Still Needs to Be Reviewed in Hadnot Murder Case

Court proceedings in the case of a 19-year-old San Francisco man charged with the June 2011 murder of Union City resident have been delayed a week due to outstanding evidence that has yet to be reviewed by the defendant’s attorney.

The evidence in question includes surveillance video that supposedly captures alleged assailant Alphonso Antonio Johnson fatally shooting Hadnot near his Contempo home in Union City last June.

After several months of investigation, after being released from a San Francisco jail on a separate weapons charge.

He to the crime during a Feb. 17 court appearance.

Johnson, who is being held at Santa Rita County Jail without bail, returned briefly to the Fremont Hall of Justice at about 10 a.m. Thursday morning when the matter was postponed so that Johnson’s attorney, Patrick Hetrick, could examine the evidence.

As he was being escorted out by a bailiff, Johnson turned his head, grinned and nodded his head in the direction of Hadnot’s wife, who was sitting in the audience.

Though Irlanda Hadnot said she has never seen Johnson before his arrest, she said Johnson recognized her from previous court appearances and made the gesture — a “cocky look” — for her. She said Johnson has appeared unremorseful during every court proceeding.

“He has no idea how much he tore our lives apart,” Irlanda Hadnot said of Johnson in a previous interview with Union City Patch. “Because of him, I don’t have a husband anymore, my kids don’t have a father.”

Hadnot, a 34-year-old father of five, was shot and in the parking lot of the Contempo Homes community of Union City. He suffered from at least one gunshot wound and was pronounced dead at the scene.

He and his wife, both originally from Milpitas, lived in the Contempo neighborhood for four years with their three children and Hadnot’s two stepchildren.

The exact motive for the killing is unknown. According to Union City police, there was a confrontation before the shooting.

"It appears to be a random act of violence,” Cmdr. Ben Horner told the Argus last month.

Irlanda Hadnot wants justice for her husband’s death, but said nothing can make up for the loss and anguish she’s experienced.

“Everyday, I relive this nightmare,” she said. “It hasn’t gotten better, and I don’t think it ever will.”

Hadnot’s murder came during a rash of violence in mid-2011 where three homicides occurred in Union City in the span of 30 days. His death was the third and final homicide of 2011.

Johnson is scheduled to return to the Fremont Hall of Justice on April 5 at 9 a.m. in Dept. 605.