BRIDGEPORT — A jury resumed deliberations Tuesday in the murder trial of a man accused of killing and dismembering his former girlfriend, an Eastern Connecticut State University student whose body was found after a month long search. But no progress was made, and the jury is expected back in court Wednesday morning to continue deliberating for an eighth day.
At 4:15 Tuesday afternoon, just before the jury was to be dismissed for the day, the jury sent a note to Judge Robin Pavia requesting to have testimony of three witnesses replayed for them when court reconvenes Wednesday morning at 10. They did the same thing Tuesday morning, spending nearly 90 minutes listening to testimony of three witnesses related to Jermaine Richards’ first interview with police after Alyssiah Wiley was reported missing.
Sources close to the case tell FOX 61 they believe the jury’s request to review testimony is an indication that the jury is closing in on a decision.
Jermaine Richards is on trial after being charged with murder in the April 2013 killing of 20-year-old Alyssiah Wiley, a student at Eastern Connecticut State University who was from West Haven. Her partial remains were found in a wooded area in Trumbull about a month after she was last seen with Richards outside her dorm.
This is Richards second trial. The first attempt to prosecute Jermaine Richards ended in a mistrial last year after the jury deadlocked.
Last Thursday, jurors said they were deadlocked. The judge urged jurors in the minority to consider the opinions of those in the majority and to keep deliberating.
Police say Wiley tried to break up with Richards, 32, via Facebook shortly before her death and he became upset.
Wiley was spotted on surveillance video that day getting into a car with Richards.
In Richards’ arrest warrant, Richards told a friend in March 2013 that he would get rid of Wiley. When asked how, he replied, “Trust me. I’m a nurse.”
Richards denies killing Wiley and has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and murder.
