By DAVID OWENS
HARTFORD — The trial of Horvil “Trix” Lebrick, a Brooklyn, N.Y. man accusing of killing one of three people who died in a 2010 shootout in East Hartford, has been delayed.
Jury selection was to begin Tuesday, but Lebrick’s lawyers, public defenders Angela Anastasi and M. Fred DeCaprio, had to withdraw from the case. A private attorney will be hired to serve as a special public defender.
The public defenders had to withdraw from the case because in the past they represented a potential witness against Lebrick, which would constitute a conflict of interest.
Judge Joan K. Alexander ordered Lebrick back to court April 15 for a status conference on his case. Because the case dates from 2010, Alexander said she wants it to go to trial as soon as a new lawyer is prepared.
Lebrick, 35, has already rejected two plea offers in the case, one of which would have sent him to prison for 45 years.
The charges against Lebrick include murder, home invasion, first-degree burglary and first-degree assault. He was the only person charged in the crime.
According to the warrant for his arrest, on the morning of May 6, 2010, Lebrick, twins Andrew and Andraw Moses and a fourth man drove from New York to the WoodCliff Estates apartment complex to rob a drug dealer. The warrant does not directly identify the drug dealer, although it says Omari Barrett was leasing the targeted apartment.
After the shootout, Lebrick told an acquaintance in New York that he and the twins, who had guns, had forced the apartment door open after knocking and getting no answer, according to the warrant. A woman inside fired a gun at them, he said, and he took the weapon from her.
Then another man arrived and started shooting, and the twins were shot, according to the warrant. Lebrick, who said he was “trying to save himself,” told his acquaintance that he jumped over the twins and started running. He got into the van, and told the waiting occupant to drive.
The twins died at the scene, as did the woman, Shawnalee Hudson.