The trial of Cordaryl Silva, the 26-year-old Ansonia man accused of shooting and killing a distant cousin outside a Derby bar in May 2012, began with acrimony Tuesday and ended in similar fashion.
Minutes before testimony in the case was scheduled to begin at Superior Court in Milford, Silva made a surprise plea to fire his lawyer, but was rebuffed by Judge Denise Markle.
And just before court adjourned for the day, it was prosecutor Charles Stango’s turn to be angry — with a witness to the shooting who had told police Silva was the shooter, only to recant the statement after taking the stand.
Background
Silva is charged with murdering 22-year-old Javon Zimmerman in the parking lot of RJ’s Cafe on Elizabeth Street on May 12, 2012.
The two were were allegedly involved in a drug-dealing crew.
At the time of the shooting, Zimmerman was the subject of a police investigation in which Silva was being used to provide information.
Silva was allegedly angry with Zimmerman because he had not been supporting Silva’s brother, who is serving a prison sentence in connection with an ambush shooting of a man in Derby police believe was connected to the Zimmerman drug dealing organization.
Silva’s family acknowledge there was a long-simmering feud between Silva, Zimmerman and Zimmerman’s extended family, but insist Silva didn’t kill the young man.
Silva v. Hopkins
The day began with Judge Markle dismissing an alternate juror because of an unforeseen scheduling conflict.
But just as the judge was about to have the rest of the jurors brought into the courtroom, Silva raised his hand and asked to speak, saying he wanted to put certain concerns of his on the record.
He complained to the judge that Hopkins hadn’t met him in jail or sent him evidence, and accused his lawyer of lying to him.
After Hopkins disagreed with Silva’s assessment, the judge told Silva the morning of the trial was not the proper time to raise such concerns.
Silva, at previous court appearances, had tried to get Hopkins fired, but at an appearance in February said he was willing to work with Hopkins.
Judge Markle then warned Silva to behave himself or she’d have him removed from the courtroom.
“Your conduct will be respectful, will be orderly, and will not interfere with the conduct of the trial,” she said, noting that his concerns had been noted and could be brought up on appeal if he were to be convicted.
The jury was then brought in, but during about 15 minutes of the judge giving them basic instructions about the case, an animated and clearly displeased Silva continued to talk to Hopkins.
The lawyer then asked for the jurors to be excused briefly, after which he told the judge Silva wanted to represent himself.
The judge denied the request.
‘One Of Them’s Going To Get It’
Stango, the prosecutor, called Monea Howard, a Derby resident, as his first witness to testify before the jury of six men and six women, along with three alternates.
Howard, who described herself as a close friend of Zimmerman’s, testified that she was at RJ’s on the night in question and had spoken with Silva, who was also at the bar, prior to the shooting.
She said shortly after 1 a.m. that night, Silva approached her, and after inquiring about a friend of hers he was thinking about asking out, the conversation turned to Zimmerman and two of his brothers: Keyshon, the reputed head of the drug dealing crew, and Roosevelt Scott, one of his chief lieutenants.
Howard said she had read Facebook posts from Silva that made her aware of a problem between Silva and the Zimmermans regarding Cook, Silva’s brother.
“I guess they weren’t supporting him in there like they were supposed to … in jail, like sending him money,” Howard said.
She testified that Silva had told her there “are certain rules in the game.”
“My brother rolled for them and they basically left him for dead,” she quoted Silva as saying that night, later testifying that Silva told her that “one of them’s going to get it.”
Howard said that about that time Tyquan Bailey, another member of Zimmerman’s drug dealing crew, then walked into the bar. The conversation stopped abruptly.
She said she “felt as if a signal was given” between Bailey and Silva, after which Bailey went into the bar’s bathroom and Silva went outside.
Then, she heard gunshots.
She went outside to see Bailey leap into a car and drive away, and Zimmerman on the ground.
She stayed with Zimmerman as he was taken to Griffin Hospital, where she said she gave police an account of what had happened.
‘It’s Going To Be Javon Zimmerman’
Derby Police Officer John Dorosh then took the stand, and testified that at the time of the shooting he was stationed in his patrol car at the corner of Anson and 5th streets, about two blocks away from RJ’s.
He said he drove toward the direction he heard shots from and, while driving east on 5th Street, saw a person running toward him and called out for the person to stop.
The person, who Dorosh described as a black man about 5‑foot, 7 inches wearing a baseball cap and all black clothing, kept running, Dorosh said, so he followed him north on Anson Street.
The man then took a left onto Lafayette Street, Dorosh testified, and then ducked onto a property and scaled a fence headed in the direction of 5th Street.
Dorosh called in the location to Officer John Gochros, who was also on patrol and handles the department’s police dog, but the animal could not pick up a scent.
Dorosh, the “officer in charge” on patrol that night, directed Michael Baldo, the only other officer on patrol at the time, to go to RJ’s.
Stango played a radio transmission from Baldo shortly after arriving at the bar and discovering the victim of the shooting.
“It’s going to be Javon Zimmerman,” Baldo radioed.
After the search for the man he had seen running from the area, Dorosh made it to RJ’s, where he said encountered a “chaotic scene, yelling, screaming, people running from the scene, cars driving away.”
Dorosh testified that a car was parked next to Zimmerman’s body in the driveway of the bar leading to 5th Street, which officer Baldo “allowed to be moved” in order for Zimmerman to get medical attention — though Howard had testified earlier that Bailey had driven the car away moments after the shooting.
He asked those still at the bar if they had seen anything, but encountered what he called “typical” reluctance on the part of potential witnesses.
“Nobody comes forward for fear of retaliation or retribution or whatever,” Dorosh said.
He said he then went to Griffin Hospital, where he took a statement from a “reluctant” Howard about her conversation with Silva that night, then returned to the Derby Police Department.
There, he said he was walking through the detective bureau when he saw a photo array on one of the detective’s desks and “immediately” recognized a picture of Silva as the man he had seen running away from the shooting.
“I said, ‘This is him’,” Dorosh testified.
On cross-examination, Hopkins asked Dorosh whether he had any prior interaction with Silva. Dorosh said he recognized the name and “may have” seen him before, but didn’t recognize him when he saw him fleeing the scene.
After Hopkins finished his cross-examination and sat down, Silva again became clearly upset, and later that afternoon told the judge why — he said Dorosh had arrested him before, and repeated his request to represent himself because Hopkins hadn’t asked the officer about it.
But again the judge denied the request, telling Silva that Hopkins’ strategy was sound, and that volunteering information about prior criminal acts wouldn’t be in his best interests.
Friend, Bouncer Give Accounts
A friend who went to the bar with Zimmerman that night, Quandre Howell, was the next witness Stango called, testifying that he, Zimmerman, and Bailey pulled into the bar before parking the car in the driveway facing 5th Street.
He said Zimmerman and Bailey then got out of the car and went to the bar as he stayed in the vehicle, smoking marijuana.
Howell said he was sitting in the car when he saw Silva walk past him and out of his view.
He said Zimmerman and Bailey then got back in the car, after which he told them they should leave because he thought Silva was going to get a rock to throw at the car as part of his feud with Zimmerman.
“What did he get?” Stango asked.
“A gun,” Howell said.
He said Zimmerman then got out of the vehicle and Silva yelled “Fuck you Javon!” while leveling the pistol in Zimmerman’s direction.
Then, “shots are fired,” Howell said.
Silva ran off toward 5th Street, he said, and he went to check on Zimmerman, but the only words his friend could muster were to repeat Howell’s nickname, “Beans,” repeatedly before becoming unresponsive.
Stango then asked Howell if he told police that night what had happened. He said he had not.
But he was more forthcoming a few weeks later while being questioned at the Derby Police Department after he and several others were arrested on drug charges connected to a lengthy investigation by the Ansonia Police Department.
He testified he had been concerned about being labeled a “snitch,” but eventually decided providing the account of what happened “was the right thing to do.”
Hopkins, the defense attorney, didn’t buy that explanation, implying the Derby police offered to help Howell out with his drug charges in exchange for a statement about the shooting.
He also pointed out Howell eventually pleaded guilty to fewer charges than he initially faced in exchange for a 30-month prison sentence.
The bouncer at RJ’s that night, Jeff Johnson, was Stango’s next witness, and testified that he saw Silva, who he said he had known for years, fire two shots outside the bar.
From where he was positioned next to a patio outside the bar, Johnson said he couldn’t see what Silva was shooting at, but after calling 911, he walked around to the driveway and saw Zimmerman’s body.
While cross-examining Johnson, Hopkins tried to poke holes in the state’s case by pointing out he and Howell had given conflicting accounts of where Bailey was when the shooting occurred.
Hopkins also called attention to the fact that Johnson gave a statement to police the day after the shooting saying Silva had been wearing a white T‑shirt at the time, which differed from Dorosh’s description of Silva running from the scene moments later.
Tyquan Bailey, Hostile Witness
The first day of the trial ended with a contentious back-and-forth between Stango and Tyquan Bailey, the last witness he called to the stand Tuesday.
Bailey — serving a prison sentence in connection with the Ansonia police investigation that also netted Howell — entered the courtroom through the courthouse lockup and smiled briefly at Silva as he made his way to the stand.
He said he had been with Zimmerman and Howell on the night of the shooting, but didn’t have a very good recollection because he “was popping pills all that night.”
After prodding from Stango, Bailey testified the three had gone to RJ’s.
What happened to Javon there, Stango asked.
“He got shot,” Bailey said.
“Who shot him?”
“I don’t know,” Bailey said.
“Who shot him?” Stango repeated.
“I don’t know,” Bailey testified.
Stango then asked Judge Markle for permission to treat Bailey as an “hostile witness.”
“You saw Javon Zimmerman shot dead,” he barked at Bailey.
“No,” Bailey said.
Stango then produced a statement Bailey had given to police fingering “C” as Javon’s shooter. Bailey said he “might have” given the statement.
“Who’s ‘C’?” Stango asked.
“Cordaryl Silva,’ Bailey replied.
Under cross-examination from Hopkins, Bailey said that in giving the statement Stango referenced, he “just told (police) what they wanted to hear.”
“I didn’t see (Silva) shoot anybody,” he said, adding that he was in the bar when shots rang out.
Given the chance to question Bailey further, Stango slammed a copy of Bailey’s earlier statement to police onto the witness stand, asking him to identify the signature at the bottom of it.
“It says my name,” Bailey conceded, but he again denied seeing Silva that night.
Stango suggested he was being reluctant because “it’s not cool to snitch.”
“Sometimes it is,” Bailey replied. “I got snitched on, that’s why I’m here.”
Bailey said the police questioning him after his arrest on drug charges told him that Silva had informed on him, and as a result, “I was mad.”
He repeated his denial about seeing anything.
“I didn’t witness no murder,” Bailey said.
Testimony in the case will continue Wednesday.
Stango said he expects to finish calling witnesses by Thursday morning, if not sooner, after which Hopkins will have the opportunity to call any witnesses of his own.
