NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut man charged with killing another man in what authorities said was a drug-dealing turf dispute nearly nine years ago was convicted of murder Tuesday.
Christopher Calhoun, 28, of New Haven, was found guilty by a Superior Court jury of shooting Isaiah Gantt, 23, in the back and head on April 20, 2011, The New Haven Register reported.
Gantt was shot in a notorious housing complex that has since been demolished.
Two witnesses for the prosecution who lived there testified that Gantt was shot because he and Calhoun were arguing over their drug profits and over Calhoun “stealing” Gantt’s customers.
Defense attorney Tara Knight said in her closing arguments that the two key witnesses were not credible because they expected leniency from authorities by testifying.
But the prosecution countered that the witness accounts were supported by forensic evidence and they had not been promised anything in exchange for their testimony.
Knight also said there is no murder weapon, no surveillance evidence and no DNA evidence in the case, just “nine-year-old memories compromised by time.”
The cooperating witnesses did not come forward until 2016 and 2017, and Calhoun was arrested in July 2018.
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