A parade of compromised witnesses reached a new milestone, as the alleged getaway driver in a double-murder took the stand and admitted he was lying as he spoke.
Jaime (pictured) was the star civilian witness on Friday, the third day of the double-murder trial of Markease Hill.
He followed one witness who admitted he’d lied under oath in the past (but not necessarily during this trial), and another who admitted changing his story.
Jaime became the first to confess to not telling the truth as it came out of his mouth as he described his fateful evening with Markease Hill.
Hill, who’s 35, is charged with fatally shooting Ensley Myrick and Joseph Reed outside the Catwalk strip club on June 11, 2008. He faces life in prison for two counts of murder and one count of murdering multiple people. Click here and here to read about days one and two of the trial before Judge Joan Alexander in Connecticut Superior Court on Church Street.
Jaime, 42, showed up Friday wearing a button-down shirt and a pony tail. He is currently serving five years in prison for selling drugs. Marshals removed his handcuffs and put him in leg shackles instead, so he could raise his right hand Friday, take an oath, and testify against his former pal.
Jaime was hanging out with Hill and another witness, Thaddeus, on the night of the killings, he said. Jaime drove the getaway car away from the scene. He was the second witness to testify that Hill murdered the two men because one of them called him a racial epithet.
Like Thaddeus, Jaime brought baggage to the witness stand: a long criminal record, and a lie he told to cops about the post-murder getaway. Under oath Friday, his testimony gained vulnerability through a few surprising, explosive remarks.
One of those remarks came within minutes of the start of defense attorney Tom Farver’s cross-examination. Farver began by probing into Jaime’s profession. Jaime had already testified that he and Thaddeus were “partners” in the business of selling drugs. Jaime would sell drugs at Fair Haven’s Tee Off Café every evening, he testified.
Did Thad sell drugs too? Farver asked.
“I don’t remember,” Jaime said with a little grin, “and I’m lying on that.”
Farver appeared puzzled by the response.
Judge Alexander stepped in to clarify.
“He does remember, and he doesn’t want to tell the truth on that, is what he’s saying?” she asked.
It was a rocky start to a question and answer session that became increasingly plagued by pauses and claims of “I don’t remember.”
Keedy B, Superman, & The N‑word
His performance had begun on a more confident tone.
Under questioning by state prosecutor Seth Garbarsky, Jaime spoke about what he said he saw the night of the murders. His testimony aimed to make a few key points: That the witness saw Hill shoot one of the men, that Hill confessed to shooting the men, and that Hill had access to a firearm.
Jaime said he picked up Thaddeus in a rented Ford Focus and took him to the Tee Off Café around 5:30 p.m. on June 10, 2008. It was their usual routine. At the Tee Off, they sold drugs and hung out. Jaime drank Patrón tequila, Heineken beer, and Hennessy cognac, he said. At the bar, they met up with “Keedy B.” Keedy B is the defendant’s street name, Jaime said. He said he didn’t know him by any other name.
Here’s what happened that night, according to Jaime:
Around 1:15 a.m., the three friends — Jaime, Thaddeus and “Keedy B,” aka Hill — left the Tee Off in the silver Ford Focus. They stopped to get cigarettes at a mart called Spunky’s on Grand Avenue. Around 1:30 p.m., they went to the Catwalk strip club parking lot — as was their routine. They didn’t go into Catwalk. Jaime said he parked on the street across from the club’s parking lot. Hill crossed the street to talk to his sister in the parking lot. Hill bought a mixed drink from a guy named Tommy, who ran a black-market booze operation near the sidewalk. Jaime and Thaddeus stayed in the car. Jaime said he chatted with a woman there, and sniffed a line of cocaine. Then he heard “a gun noise,” or “fireworks.” He looked up and saw one man lying on the ground.
Jaime said he saw a white man “running like Superman” to help his fallen friend. As he ran, the man tried to cover his face with his hands. Then he saw Hill shoot the man down.
Department of Corrections Photo
After the shooting, Hill (pictured) walked back to Jaime’s car and got in. They sped away from the scene, with Jaime behind the wheel. In the car, Hill, who’s black, confessed he shot the men because one of them called him the “N‑word,” Jaime said. Jaime drove Hill to his girlfriend’s house, then drove himself home, he said.
Jaime’s testimony was one key part of police’s arrest warrant affidavit. Jaime identified Hill from a photo lineup as “Keedy B,” and said “Keedy B” did the killings. Friday, Jaime singled out the defendant as the man he knew as Keedy B.
As Jaime spoke, the defendant remained impassive. He stroked his goatee, looked at papers, and swiveled slowly in his chair.
Spotted At Spunky’s
Over the objection of defense attorney Farver, the state also questioned Jaime about seeing Hill with a .45 caliber gun before the shooting. Judge Alexander admitted the evidence. She told the jury the testimony should be used only to show that he had access to a firearm — not to show that Hill was a “bad person.”
Police recovered five shell casings and four bullets from the scene, all of which were from the same .45 caliber gun, according to law enforcement. Jaime testified that when he and his buddies pulled over to buy cigarettes at Spunky’s, minutes before they got to Catwalk, he saw Hill holding a gun, either a .45 or a 9‑mm, on his lap. It was a large gun, nearly a foot long, he said. He had seen Hill with that same gun “several times” before. Hill also carried a second gun in his waistband that night, Jaime said. He testified that he saw no one else at the murder scene carrying a gun.
Farver tried to downplay this testimony by getting Jaime to admit that he, too, as well as his friend Thaddeus, had also carried guns in the past.
Getaway Wasn’t Forced
Jaime grew touchier when Farver confronted him about his changing story to police. Right after the Catwalk incident, Jaime told police he didn’t know anything about the shootings. Two weeks later, he emerged with a story. Later that year, he admitted his story included one major fib.
Jaime began to cooperate on June 26, 2008, after cops spotted the silver Ford Focus getaway car outside the Tee Off. Police towed away the car, which was rented in someone else’s name. Cops caught up with Jaime later that night, at the Catwalk. They put him in handcuffs — apparently because they had caught him doing some illegal activity — and took him to police headquarters for questioning. At the time, he was on the verge of heading to prison to begin a five-year sentence for selling drugs. The sentence stemmed from a guilty plea that predated the Catwalk killings.
While Jaime denied making any formal deal to avoid picking up more narcotics charges, his testimony showed he may have made some sort of trade with cops.
“I didn’t want to say nothing,” Jaime said, “but they were already on me, so I was like, ‘OK.’”
On June 26, Jaime told police that a man named Keedy B killed the men, and that Jaime drove Keedy B away from the scene. At the time, Jaime said he drove the getaway car because Hill put a gun to his neck.
That last part was a lie, Jaime later admitted. He made that admission on Sept. 17, 2008, in a taped statement that helped pave the way for Hill’s arrest one month later. Most of Jaime’s story stayed the same, except he said Hill never put a gun to his neck. The getaway wasn’t forced.
“I lied about a couple things, yes,” said Jaime Friday.
Farver added several lies to the tally. He highlighted differences between Jaime’s June 26 testimony and his September tale — the number of people in the car, the presence of a man named Spider in the parking lot, whether Jaime had been drinking that night, and whether Jaime actually heard the shooting victim call Hill the N‑word. Jaime admitted in September he had initially lied about overhearing that conversation.
“I Don’t Want To Read It”
When asked to address inconsistencies in his story, Jaime became combative. At one point, Farver asked him to review notes from his June 26 interview with police.
“Would it refresh your recollection to see what you wrote?” Farver asked.
“No,” replied Jaime. “I don’t want to read it.”
Farver’s questions met more interference as the afternoon wore on. Asked if he confessed to cops that he was selling drugs at the Tee Off on the night of the murder, Jaime replied with sarcasm: “I admitted it, but now I don’t remember.”
During one of several uncomfortably long pauses, a juror clicked a pen, and a state prosecutor tapped his foot.
Judge Alexander eased tensions at times by playing mediator, rephrasing questions when the witness looked puzzled, and repeating the witness’s words when the attorney couldn’t hear them.
At one point, the witness earned her firm rebuke, when Farver asked Jaime about a statement he made to police.
“Did I say that? So then why are you asking me again?” Jaime snapped, causing his droopy-eyed lawyer in the audience to perk up.
“You’re being argumentative,” Judge Alexander admonished.
Farver, his face flushed from the vigorous exchange, ended his cross-examination soon after that.
Prosecutor Garbarsky gave a last shot at boosting jurors’ confidence in the witness. He emphasized that throughout Jaime’s changing testimony, one key part remained the same: The identity of the shooter.
“Did you ever lie about the identity of the shooter?”
“No,” Jaime replied.
“Are you lying now about who shot the gun that night?”
“No,” Jaime said.
Jurors also heard Friday from New Haven police Detective Omaida Nieves, who observed the victims’ autopsies. Myrick’s mother and fiancée left the room before Nieves showed photos of where the victims’ bodies were pierced by bullets. Both men were shot in the head, among other places.
The trial resumes Monday at 10 a.m.