Brothers Convicted in Deadly Drive-By Shooting

0:00Two brothers named Edwin Francois just lost their appeals to Connecticut's Supreme Court over a deadly drive-by shooting back on July 6th, 20. 20. The older one got convicted of murder, conspiracy, assault with a firearm and a legal gun possession for killing 19-year-old Johnny. Lara Velasquez in Harvard, he fired shots from the passenger seat of an infinity driven by his younger brother, hitting the victim in the head and wounding a teen girl in the back seat. The shooting happened right after an argument the night before when the brothers pulled up next to the victim's Honda Accord on Capitol Avenue. The Honda had the victim driving, his girlfriend, and her young friend along for the ride. Shots rang out, the girl yelled she'd been hit, the victim peaked up, and bam, fatal shot. The car then crashed into a subway shop because the girlfriend grabbed the wheel but couldn't stop it with his foot still on the gas. Folks reacted quick at the scene, with the girlfriend telling first responders the Francois were behind it, naming both brothers and describing there.

1:02Tan Infinity, she knew them from before and even recognized the car since her boyfriend had sold it to them just a week earlier. The trial court joined their cases, juries nailed the older brother on all counts, and he drew 50 years in prison. The younger brother turned down a 25 year plea deal for accessory to murder, got hit with 50 years too after some extra trouble like, pistol whipping someone, both appealed, claiming issues with how the jury got instructed on eyewitness ID from the girlfriend, but the court shut that down. Judges said no big risk of mistaken ID since she knew the brothers well and the car was familiar. Things, they also backed excited utterances as evidence in affirmed both convictions, putting this chapter to rest for good. You've been listening to Hartford News today, AI-powered local news.