Freeman
MILFORD – The man who shot and killed 21-year-old Jajuan Benavides in Derby was sentenced to 48 years in prison, plus five years of parole, on Monday (Sept. 23).
Jacob ‘Jewla’ Freeman, 28, was found guilty by a jury in June of murdering Benavides on Anson Street on Aug. 11, 2017.
In a sentencing hearing on Monday, members of the victim’s family said that the murder left two young children without a father. Benavides’ grandmother, addressing the court, held up two school photos of Benavides’ children and looked at Freeman.
“This little boy wasn’t even born when Jajuan went to Heaven,” she said, gesturing toward a photo.
Benavides’ older brother, Elijah Howard, told the court that he mourned for Benavides’ children because they won’t know their father, and for his parents and grandparents, who will outlive their son and grandson.
“This man has stolen a part of me and a big piece of my family,” Howard said.
Police and prosecutors said Freeman shot down Benavides following a verbal dispute between the two. They said the two had argued earlier that evening before parting ways at about 11:30 p.m.
Then, at 1:22 a.m., Freeman arrived back on Anson Street with Rhameir Bush, who allegedly served as a getaway driver and is facing separate charges.
Freeman chased Benavides and shot him several times.
Freeman was arrested and charged with the murder in 2020, following a three-year investigation which tied him to the scene through surveillance video and cell phone data.
Judge Eliot D. Prescott, before handing down the sentence, contrasted Freeman’s collected demeanor in the courtroom with his actions on that night in 2017. He said that there were “two Jacobs” – the one that had remained straight-faced as the jury pronounced his guilty verdict, and the one that killed a man while his guard was down.
“This was not a beef you had with some kid on the street that went south after some drinking, some drug use,” Prescott said. “You talked him to sleep earlier that night. You met with him to make him believe that your beef with him was settled. You let his guard down. And then you planned.”
Freeman’s attorney, Walter D. Hussey, said that his client maintains his innocence, and that he will be exploring appeal options. Click here to read The Valley Indy’s coverage of the murder trial in June.
Benavides
In the trial, prosecutors submitted as evidence a music video which Freeman appeared in weeks after the murder. Performing under the name Jewla, Freeman raps a verse which prosecutors said alluded to the shooting.
Click here for a story about that video.
At the time of Benavides’ death seven years ago, family members said that he had had a troubled past, but that he was changing. One of three children, he was about to begin a job as a carpenter.
He last had a Naugatuck address listed, but he was born and raised in Derby. Former Derby school superintendent Stephen Tracy said after Benavides’ death that he remembered Benavides as a kid who could command an audience.
“Confidence. Charisma. Command presence. Call it what you will – Jajuan had it,” Tracy told The Valley Indy in 2017.
