Posted on 06/15/2022 4:13:45 AM PDT by Jim Noble
Family members of murder defendant Isaiah Rivera-Perez and shooting victim Jaiden Connor filled nearly every seat in a Hillsborough County Superior Court hearing room Tuesday morning as a trial opened that will hinge on the state’s self-defense law.
Homicide prosecutor Nicholas Chong Yen showed the jury a home security video that captures Connor, 17, running down Central Street and collapsing, where police found him with a bullet hole in his back.
“He shot Jaden Connor in the back. He shot Jaden Connor while Jaden was running away from him,” said Chong Yen, an assistant New Hampshire attorney general. “That is not self-defense, that is murder.”
Rivera-Perez, 25, faces charges of second-degree murder and reckless conduct in the July 2020 killing. Connor was one of four home invaders who attacked Rivera-Perez, who sold marijuana for a living from inside his home.
They repeatedly pistol whipped him while trying to find his marijuana and cash. Rivera-Perez then shot them as they fled his home.
Defense attorney Charles Keefe showed pictures of a beaten and bloody Rivera-Perez to the jury.
Keefe said the shooting took place just seconds after the four beat Rivera-Perez and threatened him, his wife and two young children. Connor also aimed a gun at Rivera-Perez’s wife.
“Make no mistake about it, they attacked him and his family. They brought war against him and his family,” Keefe said. The attorney also contended that the bullet had entered Connor’s body from the side, not through his back.
The state’s self-defense law allows use of deadly force if someone reasonably believes another person is about to use deadly force against them. New Hampshire law does not require a person to retreat if he is inside his home or surrounding property.
Keefe said Rivera-Perez turned to selling marijuana after getting laid off from his job as a waiter during the early days of the pandemic. His employment benefits were delayed and he needed to do something to support his family.
Authorities found 19 ounces of marijuana, two handguns and $18,000 when they searched his home after the shooting.
The trial is being held in one of the smaller courtrooms at the Manchester courthouse, and relatives and friends of both Connor and Rivera-Perez filled the three benches in the courtroom. During a break, bailiffs worked to keep the two sides separated.
At one point, words were exchanged in the hallway as the Connor family departed.
A jury view of the shooting scene was scheduled for late morning.
I'd say the waiter "did something". Doesn't sound like they were "suffering" if they have that kinda cash layin around. And what's the goin rate on an oz these days? d;^)
it really depends on the circumstance. If the “bad guy” in this case is peaking around the corner pointing a gun in the direction he thinks you are, and you come up behind him from a different direction and shoot him, then its self defense. He’s in your home, he’s trying to get you in his sights, and has no intention of running. You are defending your property and your rights and killing the invader is justified. And really, it just comes down to the castle doctrine. Are you in your home? Is the person invading your home? Legitimate target. Period.
that said, someone breaking into a drug dealers house isn’t really surprising. Not sure why they are wasting any time with this case at all, except maybe to grandstand and try to make themselves more electable. So then you have three immoral people involved- dealer, invader, and prosecutor.
Was told by the guy that did my concealed class that if someone breaks into your home you can shoot them in the back or front or side. Actually the words he used was if they are in your home uninvited. Heck our sherif Grady Judd says someone breaks in your house then blow them back out the door. Stay armed..
Well, looks like another consequence of NH finally getting some “diversity”.
Enjoy the 3rd world we’ve all come to hate NH.
Prosecutor needs to have thugs break into his house in the middle of the night and see what he then thinks is “self-defense”. It is dark, you do not know the threat, how many, how armed, what danger your family is in, etc. you just need to make sure they are down as quickly as possible. Period. If I am on a jury there is no line to cross here, if someone breaks into your house shoot them until the threat is eliminated.
Is this a Soros funded prosecutor?
Those unfamiliar with the state would be wise to think of New Hampshire as "Massachusetts North",because most of its current residents were born in Massachusetts.
Shooting someone in the course of taking a beating... I have to go with not guilty here. Shooting in the back, in this case, is immaterial. But Hillsborough Co., what can I say. Should have lived in Polk.
Conner wasn’t shot after leaving, if I read it correctly. He was shot in the home, and bled out running away.
Prior to that, again according to the article, the dead perp was beating the drug dealer Perez, and it would seem only turned away when a gun was presented.
I could see where in the mind of the Perez, had he not shot, he would have been subject to great bodily harm or death. He made a decision to shoot and it could simply be a difference of reaction times that resulted in his shot, or shots, came during or after the attacker turning to scat.
Castle doctrine is pretty clear, but the case is complicated by both parties having been engaged in illegal activities, so I’d say no to murder, but yes to other possible charges.
Well, on the face of it, it seems that the time for defense had passed.
However, as long aas the agressor is present, there is danger and need to defend.
Fear must be acceptable in a matter requiring defense
No place does the article even hint at where the defendant and the home invader were located when the defendant shot the invader. It’s only the most important aspect of the case. If the invader was still inside the defendant’s house then the victim was fair game no matter what he was doing.
The vile attacker may have been moving to attack but spun around to flee when he saw his victim had a gun and took a bullet in the back. The attacker invaded the victims’ home, assaulted him and his family and got what he deserved. Castle doctrine – not guilty.
Jaden Johnathan Connor
His obit shows mom’s maiden name as Lopez, fwiw. White Hispanic ? Has a daughter. Should have been home or working, not trying to knock over a dealer via home invasion, poor career move. Life of crime leads to dead end.
The prosecutor is a clown.
A drug dealer in one jurisdiction and an entrepreneur in another. Not guilty.
Diminished mental capacity due to the pistol whipping......
LOL
LOL
SPJNK.
The law needs changing.
“Your honor, he was running to the door to let in more bandits. I had no choice.”
So, three surviving home invaders? Are they on the hook for a homicide charge, as well, if the shooter is convicted?
And this is in New Hampshire, supposedly one of the whitest states in America.
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