MIDDLETOWN, Conn.—Two and a half years after a Wesleyan University student was gunned down inside an off-campus bookstore, the man charged in her murder went on trial Wednesday before three state judges who will be hearing testimony about the defendant’s mental health problems.
The trial of Stephen Morgan, 32, from Marblehead, Mass., began in state court in Middletown, home of the small liberal arts school. He’s charged with killing 21-year-old Wesleyan junior Johanna Justin-Jinich of Timnath, Colo., on May 6, 2009.
State police Detective Jeffrey Payette testified about video and photos he took of the aftermath of the crime scene showing that the shooter left behind a trail of evidence including the 9 mm handgun used in the killing, Morgan’s computer and a wig and sunglasses he wore as a disguise. The shooter fired the gun seven times and nine bullets—including some hollow points—remained in the weapon, according to testimony.
The photos and video also showed that Morgan’s car remained in the parking lot as police investigated.
Morgan’s lawyer, Richard Brown, is pursuing an insanity defense and asked questions about how criminals normally act after crimes.
Brown asked Payette, for example, if perpetrators usually try to hide evidence to cover up their crimes. The detective said yes.
The evidence trail suggested that the shooter went down into the bookstore’s basement from the ground-level floor after the killing, ran back up some stairs and left the building. Brown suggested in his questioning that the killer could have run out an exit door on the ground level and that the shooter’s actions were highly unusual.
The killing stunned and frightened the Wesleyan community over two days and caused a campus lockdown. After the shooting, but before Morgan’s arrest the next day, police found journals in his car and announced that he had written about killing Justin-Jinich, going on a shooting spree on campus and targeting Jews. Justin-Jinich’s family is Jewish, and her grandmother was a Holocaust survivor.
The two apparently met in 2007 while attending a summer class at New York University. Justin-Jinich filed a harassment complaint with police that summer claiming she was getting unwanted phone calls and insulting emails from Morgan, but she didn’t pursue criminal charges.
Morgan chose the three-judge panel over a jury for his trial. If convicted of murder, he could face up to 60 years in prison or be committed to a high-security state psychiatric hospital, depending on the judges’ ruling on the insanity claim. He also was charged with two other felonies: intimidation due to bias and carrying a pistol without a permit.
Prosecutor Timothy Liston called several police officers to the stand Wednesday to testify about the aftermath of the killing. Other expected witnesses include employees of the café where Justin-Jinich was working when she was killed, Wesleyan students and psychiatrists.
About a dozen relatives and friends of Justin-Jinich and about a half-dozen relatives and friends of Morgan attended the trial’s first day. All of them declined to comment.
Morgan was dressed in a beige prison uniform and his legs were shackled. He rocked forward and back in his chair at the defense table and his legs were shaking up and down at times. He didn’t speak.
The case is being heard by Superior Court Judges Susan Handy, Julia Aurigemma and James Bentivegna.
Justin-Jinich was working at The Red and Black Café inside Broad Street Books when Morgan allegedly walked in wearing a wig and shot her several times. An arrest warrant affidavit says a police officer questioned Morgan outside the bookstore shortly after the shooting but let him go. Morgan surrendered the next night about 10 miles away in Meriden.
In a journal entry before the killing, Morgan wrote, “I think it okay to kill Jews and go on a killing spree at this school,” police said.
Police also said they found an anti-Semitic book, “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” in Morgan’s hotel room.
The announcement of Morgan’s writings prompted Wesleyan officials to lock buildings on campus, tell students to stay indoors and tell staff members to stay home. A synagogue across the street from the bookstore closed its doors temporarily, and congregants considered canceling Sabbath services.
