First jury selection since COVID to begin for Connecticut criminal trial
According to the judicial branch, since jury trials resumed June 1, 39,110 people have been summoned for jury duty and 14,423 have been disqualified from serving.
BRIDGEPORT — Fifteen months after jury trials were suspended in the state because of the pandemic, jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday for the trial of a Stratford man charged in a drive- by killing.
Brandyn Ford, 27, has been incarcerated while awaiting trial since May 2017. His lawyer, John R. Gulash, twice filed motions for a speedy trial but both motions were not acted on due to the governor’s order suspending trials because of the pandemic.
The Connecticut Judicial Branch resumed jury trials on June 1 and the Ford case will be the first in Superior Court in Bridgeport.
Both Gulash and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph Harry, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment.
Twelve jurors are to be picked for the trial before Judge Alex Hernandez.
According to the judicial branch, since jury trials resumed June 1, 39,110 people have been summoned for jury duty and 14,423 have been disqualified from serving.
The jury form gives prospective jurors the opportunity to opt out of jury service if they believe they could be at risk for COVID- 19. It’s unclear how many people checked off that box as their reason for opting out.
Ford’s case involves the death of Andre Pettway, 27, of Bridgeport, who was found lying in a driveway on Garibaldi Avenue in a pool of blood on the evening of May 27, 2017. He was taken to Bridgeport Hospital, where police said he died of a gunshot wound.
Pettway, who had recently been released from prison after serving a 4- year term for possession of narcotics with intent to sell and violating a prior probation, had been leaving a birthday party when police say he was shot in the chest.
Ford was arrested a couple of days later at his home on Albright Avenue in Stratford, after police said they traced the car used in the shooting to him. Police said they found bullet holes in the side of Ford’s car, a darkcolored Hyundai sedan with tinted windows.
He is charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, risk of injury to children and first- degree reckless endangerment.
Police said they believe Ford was driving the car while another man actually did the shooting.
Ford is a 2004 graduate of Bunnell High School in Stratford, and formerly worked at Greenwich Hospital.
Chris Concepcion, of Bridgeport, was later arrested in the homicide. He is charged with murder, possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, criminal possession of a firearm, illegal discharge of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit and is awaiting trial.