Judge Declines To Suppress Defendant’s

Statements In Gowdy Murder Trial

By Andrew Gorosko

DANBURY — A judge has ruled that statements which one of two defendants made following the July 1999 Sandy Hook fatal shooting of Jason Gowdy will be allowed as state evidence in court during the defendants’ upcoming joint murder trial.

Danbury Superior Court Judge Gary White ruled Tuesday that statements made to police by Ruperto Lugo, 20, of Stratford can be used as evidence. The judge’s action denies a motion to suppress those statements, which was made by public defender Paul Eschuk, who represents Lugo.

Lugo and Alejandro Melendez, 21, of Bridgeport, are both charged in the July 10, 1999, murder of Jason Gowdy at the corner of Riverside Road and Cherry Street. Private attorney Gary Mastronardi represents Melendez.  

Lugo and Melendez each are charged with felony murder, first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery, carrying a pistol without a permit, possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle, and committing a felony with a firearm. Both men were 19 when charged. Both men have been held on $1 million bonds since being arrested three days after the shooting. Both are facing potential life sentences.

Jury selection for the Gowdy murder trial began in court this week. Lawyers for the state and the two defendants are selecting 12 jurors, plus six alternates. The trial will start after a jury is chosen.

According to a police account, Gowdy and two of his friends were walking along Riverside Road near Cherry Street about 9 pm on Saturday, July 10, 1999, when they were approached by Lugo, who had traveled there in a Chevrolet Beretta with others. Melendez drove the car, police have said. After Lugo got out of the car and approached the three boys, a brief confrontation ensued and Lugo allegedly shot Gowdy twice in the head.

At a September 1999 probable cause hearing, witnesses testified that Lugo shot Gowdy twice in the head after asking him for drugs, weapons, money, and jewelry. Melendez has been accused of supplying Lugo with the murder weapon.

After the shooting, the Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Corps rushed Gowdy to Danbury Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:28 pm.

Statements

On Tuesday in court, Eschuk argued before Judge White that the statements that Lugo had made in response to police questioning were not made voluntarily.

Under questioning from Assistant State’s Attorney Devin Stilson, state police Detective Richard Garcia, who is a state witness, said state police were assisting Newtown police when Lugo was questioned about the shooting at the Bridgeport police station on July 12, 1999.

That questioning followed Lugo’s arrest in New Haven on a warrant on an unrelated charge of failure to appear in court. Police had advised Lugo of his constitutional right to remain silent during police questioning about the Gowdy murder, Garcia said.

In that questioning, Lugo told police that he had been en route to Danbury with friends on the night of July 10 and they had gotten lost, thinking they had arrived in Woodbury, Garcia said.

Lugo denied to police that he had shot Gowdy, according to Garcia.

Lugo asked police, even if he had shot Gowdy, who would testify about the shooting in court, Garcia said. 

During the police questioning, Gowdy never asked to be represented by a lawyer, according to the detective.

Under court questioning by Eschuk, Garcia said Lugo had denied that he had shot anyone.

When questioned by Stilson, Newtown police officer Jason Frank, who is a state witness, said Lugo had denied involvement in the Gowdy shooting.

Frank said that after Lugo had spoken to his brother by telephone, Lugo stopped answering police questions, most of which had been posed by Garcia.

In arguing to suppress Lugo’s statements, Eschuk said that although Lugo was in police custody after being charged on another matter, police made no effort to contact the lawyer who was representing Lugo in that case. Lugo’s statements to police should not be presented at the trial, Eschuk told Judge White, stressing that Lugo had not admitted to doing anything.

In response, Stilson said that after having been advised of his constitutional right to remain silent under police questioning, Lugo had never indicated that he had a lawyer.

Lugo knew that he was involved in a robbery and shooting, and what Lugo told to police is relevant to the murder case, Stilson told Judge White.

In his decision on Eschuk’s motion to suppress Lugo’s statements to police, Judge White said Lugo made his statements knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. The statements concerning Lugo’s whereabouts on the night of the crime are relevant to the case, the judge said. The statements made by Lugo were not made improperly, the judge added.

On Wednesday in court, Mastronardi argued to have Judge White order a separate trial for Melendez.

The judge denied the motion, allowing the state to proceed with its plans to try both men together on the charges.

Mastronardi’s motion was based on a March 15, 2000, letter which Lugo had sent to Melendez while both men were in prison awaiting trial.

In that letter, Lugo reportedly wrote that the incident that occurred outside the Chevrolet on July 10, 1999, amounted to self-defense. In that letter, Lugo reportedly claimed that Gowdy had attempted to beat him. 

The state would contend that by sending Melendez the letter, Lugo was trying to influence how Melendez would testify at a trial, in effect contriving testimony on behalf of their defense, according to Mastronardi. Mastronardi said Melendez had nothing to do with Lugo’s letter.

Mastronardi argued that if the letter were disclosed at trial, it would cast doubt on any testimony that Melendez might give.

“If the state gets the letter [into evidence] in any way, it will injure my client,” Mastronardi said.

Stilson said he would not mention the letter at the trial unless Lugo were to become a witness in the case. 

The state has offered plea bargains to the defendants, which they have not accepted.

If convicted on all pending charges, each of the two defendants could effectively be sentenced to between 31 and 95 years in prison.

Police filed the charges against the two men three days after the murder, following an intensive investigation.

Jury Selection

Addressing a jury panel from among whom trial jurors and alternates would be chosen, Judge White said the state has the burden of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendants committed the essential elements of the six crimes. All 12 jurors must agree on the verdicts rendered against the defendants, he said.

The defendants have a constitutional right not to testify at the trial, if they choose, Judge White said. Jurors should not draw any conclusions about the case if the defendants do not testify on their own behalf, he said.

“Jurors must be fair and impartial,” the judge stressed.

Although Lugo and Melendez are the subjects of a single trial, jurors must consider the charges against them separately, Judge White said. The two cases are combined into one case for the convenience of trial, he said.

During a break in the court proceedings Tuesday, David Gowdy, father of the late Jason Gowdy, expressed mixed emotions as the preliminaries for the trial were underway.

“I’m happy that it’s [trial] finally starting, so that we can get it over with. But it’s going to be hard,” he said.

“My family’s having a hard time,” he said. “It’s too quiet in the house,” the Sandy Hook resident said. Mr Gowdy said he misses his son very much.

Jason Gowdy had lived with his father, David Gowdy, with Mr Gowdy’s wife, and with his two stepsisters on Pine Street in Sandy Hook. Jason was a student at Henry Abbott Vocational Technical School in Danbury.