“Brell” File Reveals Violent Robbery, Childhood

The fatal confrontation last week between police and 36-year-old New Havener Jebrell Conley stemmed from a July 3 robbery in Hamden during which Conley and others allegedly hit, pistol-whipped, and shot a man as they stole his drugs and money.

That in turn stemmed from Conley’s years-long involvement in the illegal drug trade and New Haven gang life — which grew out of a troubled upbringing in the Hill in the 1990s and the shooting death of a brother whom he looked up to as a father.

Those details and many more are included in federal court documents about criminal cases involving Conley, who appeared to fire first at — and then was shot and killed by — city and state police as they sought to serve him with a robbery-shooting warrant late in the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 19, at a car wash just over the New Haven-West Haven town border.

The documents — first reported on Tuesday by Hearst Connecticut’s Alex Wood – include a Sept. 17 federal indictment on charges of robbery, shooting, and aiding and abetting, as well as a February 2016 defendant’s sentencing memorandum filed by Assistant Federal Defender James P. Maguire in a federal crack dealing case that resulted in Conley being sentenced to five years in prison and six years on probation.

Taken together, they shed light on the most recent act of criminal violence Conley, a longtime member of the Grape Street Crips gang, had been accused of committing. Police were looking to arrest him for his alleged role in that incident. The records also uncover a painful, personal story of a tragedy-filled upbringing, as detailed by an attorney assigned to represent him nearly a decade ago.

The Sept. 17 indictment states that Conley, also known as ​“Brell” or ​“City,” ​“along with other individuals did physically hit, pistol-whip, and shoot” a man and steal ​“narcotics and narcotics proceeds” from that man outside of his home in Hamden on July 3.

The indictment does not detail who Conley was with. Nor does it state who or how many people involved in this robbery fired guns. Conley is the only named defendant in the indictment.

The document continues by stating that Conley, ​“with others known and unknown to the Grand Jury, did, and knowingly aided and abetted each other to knowingly carry, use, brandish, and discharge a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence.”

The Feb. 12, 2016 defendant’s memorandum in aid of sentencing in a separate drug case, meanwhile, describes in detail where Conley came from before his participation in gang, drug, and street life.

According to that memo, Conley was born in 1988 and grew up in the Hill. His father was incarcerated for most of his childhood. He recalled by 2016 that he had seen his father only three times in life.

That left Conley’s mother — who suffered from chronic health conditions that frequently left her hospitalized — with the primary responsibility for raising him and his eight siblings and half-siblings.

“Notwithstanding the inherent hardships imposed by circumstances, Mr. Conley’s family did what they could to create a protective environment for him,” Maguire wrote. His mom kept him inside as much as possible, ​“putting a closed door between Jebrell and a neighborhood saturated by drugs and violence.”

His closest relationship was with his older brother, Tyrell Harris, who helped him with homework, attended his basketball games, kept him focused on school, and acted as a father figure.

“Mr. Conley made the most of the chance his family struggled to provide for him,” his attorney at the time wrote. ​“Far from merely going through the motions, Mr. Conley showed a determination and diligence that earned him numerous mentions. In his fifth grade year alone, Mr. Conley received certificates for ​‘academic and social achievement,’ for being the ​‘most improved student,’ and for never missing a day of school.” And in middle school, he remained ​“an active and engaged student,” playing football and basketball and baseball, as well as drums in the school band.

His life was ​“flipped upside down” on Dec. 27, 2003 when he was 15. That was when his older brother Tyrell was shot and killed at a night club in Milford.

“The death of Tyrell Harris demolished the fragile barrier that had protected Mr. Conley from the world waiting for him outside his front door,” Maguire wrote. In order to ​“help provide financial support for his family, Mr. Conley — still a young teenager — turned to the opportunities at hand. He sold drugs. He began using marijuana. Predictably, he failed to finish high school.”

Maguire also emphasized in 2016 Conley’s then-long-time relationship with the mother of his two children. He wrote that Conley earned his GED and, upon his release from prison in 2014, obtained employment as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Milford.

Maguire described Conley as ​“an engaged and active parent” and as someone ​“capable of turning his life around.”

A February 2016 sentencing memo written by then‑U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly expresses sympathy for Conley’s difficult life, even as it pushes back on the defense’s characterization of Conley as nonviolent.

That government sentencing memo states that Conley was charged with interfering with police and assault as a juvenile. ​“As an adult, he has sustained several drug convictions, has fled from police in connection with more than one of his arrests, and has been convicted of two weapons offenses.”

The memo noted that investigators had also found ​“Grape Street Crips regalia” in his residence. After last week’s fatal police shooting, city police have pointed out Conley’s longstanding membership in the Grape Street Crips.

“Clearly, the defendant has continued to make very bad choices up to the time of his arrest in this case,” the 2016 sentencing memo reads. ​“These are factors which the Court must seriously consider in fashioning a sentence for the defendant.”