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Eugene Driscoll | Jun 24, 2024 7:04 pm
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MILFORD — Was Jacob Freeman an assassin lying in wait who shot a man to death on Anson Street in Derby or the victim of a ‘jailhouse rat’ seeking revenge?
The competing descriptions come from the closing statements on Monday by the prosecution and the defense in the murder trial of Jacob ‘Jewla’ Freeman.
The 28- year-old Ansonia resident is accused of murdering 21-year-old Jajuan Benavides in the middle of the night on Aug. 11, 2017.
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Eugene Driscoll | Jun 21, 2024 5:11 pm
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Jajuan Benavides
ANSONIA-DERBY – A witness scheduled to testify against the suspect in a 2017 murder in Derby refused to show up for court on Friday (June 21).
The witness, Desi Williams, is currently being held in the New Haven Correctional Center on first-degree robbery charges out of Waterbury.
Judge Eliot D. Prescott said that an option was to ask correctional officers at the jail to bring Williams to court by force. The judge also noted that forcing Williams would only get him in the court house, not necessarily have him give testimony.
The judge pointed to the risk Williams could potentially pose to correctional officers and to judicial marshals.
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Jasmine Wright | Jun 20, 2024 5:26 pm
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A relative of the late Jajuan Benavides next to a memorial set up in 2017 after he died on Anson Street in Derby.
ANSONIA-DERBY — On day three of a trial connected to the 2017 killing of Jajuan Benavides, prosecutors showed the jurors part of a music video police said connects the defendant to the killing.
Jacob Freeman, of Ansonia, is accused of chasing down and then fatally shooting Benavides on Anson Street in Derby in the early hours of Aug. 11, 2017. He has pleaded not guilty.
On Thursday (June 20), prosecutors showed the jury about fifty seconds of a music video for the song “Nothin Left” by Kay Montana and Freeman, using the name Jewla. The part shown to the jury includes the video’s introduction, as well as most of a verse performed by Freeman, the lyrics to which were cited in Freeman’s arrest warrant in 2020.
Anson Street in Derby looking toward Fifth Street, in a Google Map image taken in September 2022.
MILFORD — Jacob Freeman, 28, was charged in 2020 with the 2017 murder of Jajuan Benavides on Anson Street in Derby. Freeman pleaded not guilty and his jury trial started Monday (June 17) in Superior Court in Milford with Judge Eliot D. Prescott presiding.
Court was closed on Wednesday because of the Juneteenth holiday. Click here for day one coverage. Click here for day two coverage. Click here for a story about how a YouTube music video could play a role in the trial.
Click here for Valley Indy coverage going back to 2017.
Testimony is scheduled to continue on June 20.
The following is a summary of the case, a list of the lawyers involved, followed by information from court that did not make it into Valley Indy coverage thus far.
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Jasmine Wright | Jun 18, 2024 6:03 pm
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Jajuan Benavides, center, in a family childhood photo that a relative showed to The Valley Indy shortly after the fatal shooting.
ANSONIA – DERBY– On the second day of a trial connected to a fatal 2017 Derby shooting, a Derby detective called by the state presented surveillance videos showing 21-year-old Jajuan Benavides’ final moments.
Benavides was shot and killed on Anson Street in Derby at about 2 a.m. Aug. 11, 2017. Jacob Freeman, of Ansonia, is accused of killing Benavides.
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Eugene Driscoll | Jun 18, 2024 10:16 am
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A still shot from the YouTube video "Kay Montana x Jewla - Nothin Left [Official Video]."
ANSONIA/DERBY — A music video posted to YouTube could play a role in the trial of an Ansonia man accused of killing a man on Anson Street in Derby.
Jacob Freeman, 28, is accused of murdering 21-year-old Jajuan Benavides with a gun on Anson Street in Derby at about 2 a.m. Aug. 11, 2017, a few hours after an argument between the two.
Freeman pleaded not guilty and a jury trial started Monday (June 17) in Superior Court in Milford with Judge Eliot D. Prescott presiding. Five witnesses were called by the prosecution to testify on the first day. Click here for the day one story.
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Eugene Driscoll | Jun 17, 2024 7:51 pm
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A photo of Jajuan Benavides was part of a memorial set up on Anson Street in 2017
ANSONIA — DERBY — Five witnesses took the stand on the first day of testimony in the trial of an Ansonia man accused of murder.
Jacob Freeman, of Ansonia, is accused of gunning down 21-year-old Jajuan Benavides on Anson Street in Derby at about 2 a.m. Aug. 11, 2017, shortly after an argument between the two.
Freeman has pleaded not guilty.
The trial started Monday (June 17) in front of Judge Eliot D. Prescott.
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Eugene Driscoll | Oct 27, 2020 6:25 pm
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Derby PD PHOTO
Jacob Freeman, left, and Rhameir Bush, right.
DERBY — Hours before he was shot to death on Anson Street, 21-year-old Jajuan Benavides told a friend he was carrying a handgun because he had to “watch his back” because of problems he was having with unspecified “Ansonia people.”
The information comes from an arrest warrant Derby police used Oct. 21 to charge Jacob Freeman, 24, of Ansonia, with murder. Police also charged Rhameir Bush, 25, of Bridgeport, with criminal liability for acts of another/murder, and conspiracy to commit murder.
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Eugene Driscoll | Oct 25, 2020 5:19 pm
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ANSONIA — Police are investigating a report of shots fired early Saturday (Oct. 24) on Wakelee Avenue in the area of Dwight Street.
Police received multiple 911 calls reporting gunshots at 1:25 a.m.
“Officers were able to locate shell casings and spent rounds on Wakelee Avenue in the area of Dwight Street,” Lt. Patrick Lynch said in a prepared statement.
