Freeman
MILFORD – A jury has found a 28-year-old Ansonia man guilty of murdering 21-year-old Jajuan Benavides in Derby in August 2017.
Jacob‘Jewla’ Freeman is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Eliot D. Prescott on Sept. 23.
The verdict was reached Tuesday (June 25) at about 11 a.m.. The case went to the jury 2 p.m. Monday after a trial that started one week ago.
Authorities said that Freeman shot Benavides to death in the middle of the night on Anson Street in Derby on Aug. 11, 2017.
Click here for a story on the trial’s closing arguments.
Click here to read everything The Valley Indy published on the case.
“I’m ecstatic, I’m beyond ecstatic,” Keya Harris, Benavides’ mother, told reporters outside the courtroom. “Finally, peace. Justice for my son.”
Benavides was survived by two children who are now ten and six years old. Harris said she hopes the court will consider the children Benavides didn’t get to raise when deciding on a sentence for Freeman.
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.
Members of Benavides’ family were present in the courtroom throughout the trial, as were members of Freeman’s.
Click here for an obituary for Benavides.
Benavides
Benavides, who grew up on Hawkins Street in Derby, was shot three times on Anson Street around 1:30 a.m. on Aug. 11, 2017. He was 21 years old.
The probe into his murder lasted three years before Freeman, now 28, was charged with the murder in late 2020.
Police and prosecutors alleged that Freeman gunned 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 then chased Benavides down Anson Street toward the Cicia Manor apartments, prosecutors said, where he shot at Benavides several times.
Police and prosecutors connected Freeman to the murder via cell phone tower data and surveillance video allegedly placing Freeman at the crime scene, as well as witness testimony.
During the trial, two witnesses testified that they heard Benavides say “Chill, Jacob, chill,” before collapsing. Another witness – who had previously spoken with police, but did not show up when summoned to testify – said that Benavides came to his house after the shooting and confessed to the murder. That witness gave testimony in exchange for a more lenient sentence on federal gun charges.
As the trial unfolded, prosecutors called two Derby detectives who worked on the case to the stand. One gave an account of how surveillance video helped connect Freeman to the murder; another testified that he had seen Freeman wearing clothing in Facebook photos that matched clothing seized from the crime scene.
Prosecutors also drew attention to a music video Freeman appeared in weeks after the murder. In the video, Freeman performs a verse which police and prosecutors said alluded to the shooting.
Click here for a story about that video.
Freeman’s attorney, Walter Hussey, argued in the trial that prosecutors were basing their case on unreliable testimony. He pointed out that the two witnesses who were with Benavides at the time of the shooting had conflicting accounts, and he said that the third witness was a jailhouse informant who was out to get a better deal for himself.
Freeman maintained a straight face as his verdict was read. Judge Prescott then thanked the jurors for their service.
Freeman is scheduled to be sentenced on September 23.
Rhameir Bush, the suspected getaway driver, faces separate charges of accessory to murder and conspiracy to commit murder. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and is currently on the trial list. His trial has not yet been scheduled.
The Benavides case was not a simple case for the Derby Police Department. Police said early on they were not receiving help from eyewitnesses, despite the large number of people in the area at the time of the shooting.
The lack of cooperation was verified by two witnesses who only agreed to cooperate with police several years after the crime.
In a statement to The Valley Indy, Derby Police Department Chief Scott Todd said justice was served.
“We believe that justice was served today, and we applaud the hard and diligent work put in by many. In particular we would like to recognize the entire team from the Ansonia/Milford judicial district, particularly Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Marc Durso,” Chief Todd said. “Also all the Derby officers and detectives who never relented on this case. Detectives Edward Sullivan, Gino DiMauro, Ben Bartone, and Sergeant John Netto, as well as recently retired Lieutenant Justin Stanko deserve the credit for pursuing every lead over the course of several years that ultimately led to this arrest and conviction.”
