JURY SELECTION TENTATIVELY SCHEDULED FOR OCTOBER IN NEW LONDON MURDER CASE
Jury selection tentatively has been scheduled for Oct. 17 in the case of Sebastian Tzampop, who is accused of murdering his housemate at their New London apartment on Christmas Day in 2013.
The case was scheduled for jury selection on Tuesday before Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed. The judge postponed it after defense attorney J. Patten Brown III informed the court he had a scheduling conflict.
Following jury selection, the case would go to trial on Nov. 1 before a jury of 12. The dates will be firmed up at a Sept. 21 status conference in New London Superior Court.
Tzampop, 32, has been incarcerated sincehe allegedly admitted to city policethat he beat and fatally strangled his roommate, 39-year-old Antonio Chajon.
Both men had emigrated from the same Guatemalan village and were living in an apartment at 15 Hope St.
Tzampop and Chajon, who was found dead in his second-floor bedroom, had been drinking with several other roommates the previous night, according to police.
Tzampop initially told police he didn’t remember what happened, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Shown photos of Chajon’s injuries, he allegedly told police he felt an “evil, spiritual presence” overtake him and started beating Chajon, who was asleep in bed.
The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled that Chajon died of neck compression “with blunt injuries of head and trunk.”
In addition, he suffered multiple rib fractures, a lacerated liver, a broken hyoid bone in his neck and broken tracheal cartilage.
Tzampop in Juneturned down an offer to plead guilty to a reduced charge in exchange for a 15-year prison sentence, saying he wanted his trial.
New London Superior Court prosecutor Paul J. Narducci said he extended the plea offer to Tzampop based on an assessment of how intoxicated both men were and whether that could affect the issue of Tzampop’s intent to kill Chajon.
Tzampop is being held in lieu of $99,100 cash at the Corrigan Radgowski Correctional Center.