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.
Freeman has pleaded not guilty.
The trial began on Monday (June 17) with testimony from three witnesses who were nearby when Benavides was shot. According to the testimony of two female friends of Benavides, he had been in an altercation with Freeman, then went to a bonfire on Hawkins Street before heading back to Anson Street to hang out.
Surveillance video stitched together by Derby Police Department Detective Edward Sullivan was presented in court on Tuesday (June 18). The video compilation, sourced from multiple angles at six different addresses, was shown to the jury for about 45 minutes.
Early in the video, a Jeep Grand Cherokee – which was later seized as evidence by police – is seen on Anson Street. That Cherokee was carrying Freeman and Rhameir Bush, according to an arrest warrant. The video cuts to multiple locations on Anson, Fifth, and Sixth streets, and, toward the end, a figure that Sullivan identified as Benavides is seen running along Anson Street.
In testimony delivered on Monday, the two female eyewitnesses each described Benavides as saying “Chill, Jacob, chill,” while running down Anson Street, before collapsing and getting shot.
Police believe that Freeman shot Benavides and then got into the Jeep seen earlier in the video. They allege that that Jeep was driven by Rhameir Bush, who has murder conspiracy charges pending.
Around the time police and EMS were called to the scene, a crowd began to form around Benavides, according to an arrest warrant. Derby Police Sgt. Christopher Benanto, now retired, estimated in testimony on Monday that there were about 15 to 20 people gathered there. Police were called in from Ansonia and Shelton for crowd control.
In cross-examination on Tuesday, Freeman’s lawyer, Walter Hussey, asked Detective Sullivan why he was only able to speak with three witnesses out of the crowd. Sullivan responded that he had tried to speak with more, but the witnesses were hesitant to talk with police.
Hussey also said that two of the witnesses’ accounts contradict each other – one stated that she saw a man stand over Benavides and shoot him, while another said she saw him run by and collapse, but she didn’t see any gunfire. Sullivan agreed that the accounts conflict.
Sullivan testified that the case went cold for several months. He said that a confidential witness came forward with information in 2019 that reopened the case.
Freeman’s arrest warrant states that the confidential witness gave information to police that included “details that only someone familiar with the case would know.” Police met with the witness three times between 2019 and 2020, according to Sullivan.
Freeman was arrested on Oct. 21, 2020 and charged with murder.
The state called one more witness to the stand on Wednesday – Connecticut State Police Sgt. Kevin Duggan, who was called to the crime scene to help Derby police process evidence. He described in his testimony the physical evidence recovered from the scene, including multiple shell casings, a bullet, and a handgun that was found near Benavides.
One of those shell casings was recovered from behind Cicia Manor, a senior apartment complex near where Benavides collapsed.
Hussey asked both Duggan and Sullivan about the handgun, which was found jammed. One of the witnesses on Monday testified that it appeared Benavides was attempting to pull the gun from his waistband when he collapsed.
Hussey also asked Duggan about the casing recovered from Cicia Manor. He asked whether it was possible for a shell casing to travel that distance from a gun fired near where Benavides was found. Duggan said he couldn’t imagine many scenarios where that would happen.
Judge Eliot D. Prescott, who is presiding over the case, estimated that the trial could continue into next week.
There will be no court on Wednesday (June 19) due to the Juneteenth federal holiday.
Prosecutors are expected to discuss cell phone data relating to the case later in the trial, which the arrest warrant cites extensively.
