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.
THE CRIME
According to testimony from two people who knew Benavides, he and Freeman did not get along.
Benavides, who grew up in Derby, was hanging out with friends on Anson Street for much of the afternoon and night of Aug. 10, 2017.
Freeman, an Ansonia resident, and two other people arrived on Anson Street at about 11:30 p.m.. According to testimony, Freeman and Benavides got into a verbal argument, the nature of which has not been said in court. One of Benavides’ friends, a 26-year-old woman who now lives in Shelton, said Freeman and Benavides shook hands, leading her to believe the beef was resolved.
Authorities believe Freeman returned to Anson Street at just before 2 a.m. Benavides was still on Anson Street, hanging out on a porch with two friends. Police said Freeman chased Benavides down Anson Street and shot him three times.
Benavides died a few hours later at Bridgeport Hospital.
Charges are also pending against Rhameir Bush of Bridgeport. Police accused Bush of driving a vehicle that helped get Freeman to and from the scene. He has pleaded not guilty to two felonies and his case has yet to be scheduled for trial.
THE LAWYERS
Walter Hussey: a defense attorney out of Hartford with more than 30 years experience is representing Freeman
Marc Durso: a senior assistant state’s attorney who asked most of the questions for the prosecution on day one. On day two, he questioned the Derby detective who spearheaded the investigation.
Tatiana Messina: an assistant state’s attorney who questioned a representative of the medical examiner’s office on day one of the trial and a Connecticut State Trooper on day two.
DAY ONE NOTES
Alternate Juror Dismissed
Prior to the jury being let into the courtroom, Judge Prescott said there was a member of the jury expressing concerns about her ability to serve.
The juror – an alternate – was brought into court and sat in the witness stand so the judge could talk to her. She said her employer recently cut her hours, and that she could only get paid for five days while she was out of the office. If the trial went longer, the woman said she would not be able to pay her mortgage.
Judge Prescott said the trial would likely take four days in the first week, and five days in the second week. He stressed that was only an estimate. Ultimately the judge dismissed her from serving and thanked her for her time.
The judge also gave a summary of how the trial would be structured. First the prosecution would call witnesses, and then the defense could call witnesses. Closing arguments would begin after all witnesses were called. The order in closing statements would be prosecution, then defense, and then prosecution again, if they choose. The jury would be given detailed instructions prior to deliberating the case.
Juror Doesn’t Feel Well
Later in the day Dr. Donald Turbiville, an assistant medical examiner, answered questions about a post-mortem report and reviewed autopsy photos that showed the entrance and exit wounds caused by the three bullets that hit Benavides.
His testimony was briefly interrupted by a juror who put his head in his hands and leaned forward. A court marshal spoke to the man, and then to the judge. Judge Prescott announced a brief recess.
After the jury left the room, Judge Prescott announced that the man felt lightheaded. The judge said it was not clear whether it was the result of seeing the photos or from the afternoon heat.
Ultimately the juror returned to court with the jury and gave the judge a ‘thumbs up.’
Autopsy Review
Under questioning by Messina, Dr. Turbiville said that he had performed 300 post-mortem examinations, of which 30 involved gunshot wounds. He did perform the autopsy on Benavides, as he was not employed with the state’s medical examiner’s office at the time of death. The examiner who performed it was Dr. Dollet White, who is no longer with the office.
Dr. Turbiville noted that the autopsy found evidence that three bullets entered and exited Benavides. The actual bullets were not recovered. Two entered his lower back, with a third entering his rear thigh. It was not possible to determine the order of the shots.
The post-mortem report noted the gunshots had been fired at an “indeterminate range.” There were no signs of gunpowder or muzzle imprint on Benavides’ body. Also, his clothes did not make it to the medical examiner’s facility in Farmington. That happens sometimes, the doctor said, as the clothes might be taken by police or discarded by hospital staff.
The gunshot wound to the leg was not life-threatening, but the two bullets that entered his lower back did extensive damage to his intestines, aorta, stomach and interior vena cava, the largest vein in the body.
Doctors and staff tried emergency surgery to repair the wounds, Dr. Turbiville said.
Benavides also had scrapes on his hands and knees that could have been from falling on a surface such as concrete. That would dovetail with eyewitness testimony who said Benavides fell while trying to get away from this attacker on Anson Street.
DAY TWO NOTES
Defense Attorney Questions Use Of Confidential Witness
On day two of the trial, Derby Police Detective Edward Sullivan testified that police were able to bring charges against Freeman thanks to a series of interviews with a confidential witness between 2019 and 2020.
He said that the case “went cold” for several months before a witness came forward in 2019 claiming to have evidence tying Freeman to the murder.
Freeman’s arrest warrant states that, over the course of three interviews, the confidential witness gave information to police that included“details that only someone familiar with the case would know.”
In Hussey’s cross-examination of Sullivan, he questioned the detective about the delay – about six months – between the witness coming forward and detectives’ first interview with the witness.
Sullivan responded that organizing interviews with the witness took time, as he was incarcerated, and detectives had to coordinate with attorneys from other jurisdictions, as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).
Hussey also asked whether that witness might have something to gain by giving information to police, given his incarceration. Prosecutors objected to this line of questioning. Judge Prescott agreed with the prosecutors, telling Sullivan to disregard a question from Hussey.
Jammed Gun Focus Of Questioning
Earlier in the cross-examination of Sullivan, Hussey’s questions focused on a gun that was recovered near Benavides’ body. A friend of Benavides testified that it belonged to him.
That gun was found jammed, and a shell casing that was ejected from the gun was found nearby. Hussey asked whether that meant that the gun recovered from Benavides was fired at least twice, and Sullivan said it was.
Hussey then asked about one of the witnesses – who testified and said in police interviews that she had seen the shooting – why she hadn’t mentioned the gun firing during those interviews.
Sullivan said he had tried to schedule follow-up interviews with that witness, but that he wasn’t able to do so. Hussey then pointed out that that left investigators without probable cause for an arrest at the time.
