Both sides rested their case in the trial for Brandon Letman in Hartford Superior Court on Thursday afternoon, nearly eight years after two people were fatally shot in Hartford’s North End.
Letman, of New Britain, is standing trial on multiple charges, including murder and tampering with witnesses in connection to the 2016 slayings of Ashley Spence and Cameron Mounds.
The two were gunned down near an apartment on Enfield Street on the evening of June 21, 2016, after Mounds and Letman allegedly met up for a trade in which they both allegedly duped one another — Mounds allegedly giving Letman fake cocaine in exchange for a fake gun, according to Letman’s arrest warrant affidavit.
Mounds, 19, was found suffering from gunshot wounds near a back door to the apartment on Enfield Street and Spence, 21, was found shot in the driveway. Neighbors and bystanders rushed over to help them both. Police and paramedics arriving quickly to the scene, but both died from their injuries.
Letman, 31, was arrested in 2019 — years after Mounds’ and Spence’s cases went cold. His arrest came after investigators coaxed multiple witnesses into sharing their accounts of what happened that day, according to the warrant affidavit.
Prosecutors Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Robin Krawczyk and Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney John Fahey, head of the Cold Case Unit at the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, called a range of witnesses to the stand, including the first police officers who arrived at the scene of the shooting, neighbors who heard the gunshots and cold case investigators who worked the case years later.
After presenting about a week’s worth of evidence, the prosecutors rested their case on Thursday. Letman’s defense team, lead by attorney Sebastian DeSantis, did not present any witnesses or evidence.
“Seeing no need to present anything, the defense rests,” DeSantis said in court.
Letman declined his right to testify in his own defense, telling the judge he did not want to take the stand.
Attorneys for both sides will return to court on Friday for a jury charge conference. Jury deliberations are expected to begin early next week.
“The case is almost yours, but it’s not yours yet,” Judge Michael J. Gustafson told the jury on Thursday.
Lawrence Mounds Sr., Mounds’ uncle, said he looks forward to gaining some closure from a verdict.
“It’s almost to the end,” he said just outside the courtroom Thursday.
Making it through the evidentiary portion of the trial, he said, brought forth feelings of “relief and closure — almost.”
“We’ve waited this long, so another week? We’re good.”
The jury, made up of 12 regular jurors and a handful of alternates, was dismissed until 10 a.m. Monday, when the state and the defense will make their closing arguments. After the jury charge is held, the jury will be sent into the deliberation room.
Letman is being held in lieu of a $2 million bond, court records show.
