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.
Ultimately an agreement was reached between the prosecution and the defense lawyers, in which prosecutors read to the jury a transcript of what Williams said under oath during a probable cause hearing in January 2021.
The hostile witness delayed the start of court Friday for about 60 minutes in the case of the State of Connecticut vs Jacob Freeman of Ansonia.
Authorities said Freeman chased and then gunned down Jajuan Benavides of Derby on Anson Street in Derby in the middle of the night on Aug. 11, 2017.
Freeman is charged with murder. His trial began on Monday (June 17) in Superior Court in Milford.
Both the prosecution and the defense rested their cases on Friday. Closing arguments are scheduled for Monday (June 24).
In the transcript of Williams’ previous testimony read to the jury, Williams said that Freeman was a neighbor on Lester Street in Ansonia and that the two ran in the same circles and saw each other on a daily basis.
Williams said that immediately after the incident Freeman came to his house and confessed to shooting and killing Benavides. He testified Freeman said he chased Benavides down Anson Street, firing a gun at him, and that after Benavides fell Freeman stood over him, told him to “shut the f*** up,” then shot him.
He also positively identified Freeman to Derby detectives in at least two surveillance photos taken from the Anson Street area the night of the murder.
Williams cooperated with the investigation because he had federal criminal charges pending at the time and hoped the federal judge would look favorably upon him, according to the transcript of his previous testimony.
After Williams’ testimony was read to the jury, Walter Hussey, Freeman’s lawyer, asked Judge Prescott to acquit Freeman, saying the state had not prevented enough evidence to secure a murder conviction.
Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Marc Durso disagreed.
Judge Prescott denied Hussey’s request.
After Durso rested his case, Hussey called one witness to the stand: Dustin Softleigh, the recording engineer who produced a song for Freeman and another Ansonia rapper.
The music video for that song posted to YouTube was cited by Derby detectives in the warrant used to arrest Freeman.
“The video lyrics sung by Jacob Freeman describes a murder on‘A’ and‘Fifth.’ Jajuan Benavides was murdered on the Anson St. and Fifth St. It should be noted Anson Street is known on the street as‘A block,’” the warrant states.
The music video was posted to YouTube in September 2017, a month and a half after Benavides was murdered on Anson Street.
However, Softleigh testified that the lyrics and music to the song were completed between July 4 and July 7, a full month before the Anson Street murder.
Upon cross-examination, the prosecution asked numerous questions about Softleigh’s criminal history. Durso also asked if Softleigh was under the influence of any drugs, and whether he had just smoked marijuana outside the courthouse.
Softleigh said he had not.
After court ended for the day, a relative of Benavides who wished to remain anonymous said that Benavides was a popular and well-liked Derby native. The relative was in court to make sure Benavides doesn’t become another statistic. The person said they believed that the prosecution has proved Freeman is guilty.
Dana Freeman, Jacob Freeman’s father, said the trial has been fair and that he is hoping for the best.
“It’s in God’s hands,” he said.
Court resumes at 10 a.m. Monday.
