After nearly two days of deliberations, a jury found Daswan Jette guilty of manslaughter and not murder in the death of Sabrina Galusha in the spring of 2017.
Eight women and four men returned to the courtroom at lunchtime Wednesday with their verdict, which concluded the three-week trial in Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord.
Jette, 23, had faced charges of first- and second-degree murder stemming from Galusha’s death on the evening of May 30, 2017, following a drug deal gone bad at Penacook Place Apartments. However, the jury found Jette not guilty of those charges and instead convicted him of the lower-level manslaughter charge, which is often punishable by 15 to 30 years in state prison.
New Hampshire law says someone is guilty of manslaughter when “he causes the death of another” recklessly or while experiencing an extreme mental or emotional disturbance. For jurors to have convicted Jette of reckless second-degree murder, they would have needed to find that he also acted with “extreme indifference to the value of human life” when he stabbed Galusha.
Prosecutors with the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office alleged that Jette had knowingly caused Galusha’s death by fatally stabbing her in the chest during the commission of a robbery. Several witnesses testified that Jette had snatched the half-ounce of marijuana off a scale as it was being weighed in the friends’ car, although both sides disagree about his motive for doing so.
Jette maintained throughout the trial that he acted in self-defense that night after an altercation with Galusha and her friends in a vestibule of his apartment complex at 36 Pinehurst St, and that he never intended to, or even knew that he had, stabbed Galusha.
Prior to the reading of the verdict Wednesday afternoon, members of Galusha’s family, close friends and officers with the Concord Police Department packed into the courtroom benches. Two of the trial’s key witnesses, Sam Chase and Annika Tidd Civetti, both of whom were with Galusha on that fatal night, also awaited the jury’s decision.
After jurors returned a unanimous “not guilty” verdict on the first-degree murder charge, the court clerk separately read the alternative counts of second-degree murder. In response to the verdicts of “not guilty” on both charges, hushed sobs could be heard among Galusha’s friends. A couple of them quietly expressed outrage at the defense and shock over the jury’s decision while still seated in the courtroom.
In the hallway, Judy Frenette, a family friend of the Galushas, embraced her daughter Elisabeth as they processed what they had just heard. Frenette, a Salisbury resident, was unable to attend trial testimony but was in court Monday during closing arguments.
“I am very disappointed. I thought that he would at least get second-degree murder – that’s what we all really thought,” Frenette said, as she looked around at several of Galusha’s friends hugging and sharing their reactions to the jury’s verdict.
Frenette said she wanted to attend the verdict in support of the victim’s family and in Galusha’s memory.
“Sabrina was such a peaceful soul. She was a beautiful girl, and she was loved by a lot of people,” she said.
Many of Galusha’s friends declined to speak outside the courtroom, saying they were still processing the jury’s verdict.
During the trial, jurors heard testimony from several city officers and detectives, the state’s chief medical examiner, criminalists with the state lab, and three of Galusha’s friends – Chase, Civetti and Madison Campbell – who were with Galusha that night and say they witnessed Jette stab her in the car in the parking lot of Penacook Place.
Jette also took the stand in his own defense, telling jurors he felt threatened that night in the vestibule after Chase put him in a headlock. Chase testified that he had done so because Jette refused to return the marijuana and had pulled out a knife. Chase said he was afraid for his friends’ safety as both Galusha and Campbell had followed him into the vestibule.
Chase, Civetti, Campbell and Jette all said they initially lied to police about what had happened that night. The friends said they didn’t want anyone to get in trouble for the drug deal, while Jette said he lied to find out what police knew about the events as they had unfolded outside Penacook Place.
After the jury’s verdict Wednesday, attorneys on both sides said they are appreciative of the jury for their work and careful deliberations on a difficult case.
“I’m thankful to the jury for all that they did to look at everything and I know that it was a difficult decision,” public defender Caroline Smith told the Monitor after the verdict.
After meeting privately with the Galusha family, Senior Assistant Attorney General Ben Agati and fellow prosecutor Nicole Clay expressed similar sentiments.
“We certainly respect their verdict and respect the amount of work they did in considering the case,” Agati said.
“There were certainly a lot of emotions running high in the room but I think that any time you have a person like this taken in these sort of circumstances from her family, from the world, that emotions are always going to be present,” he continued.
The Galushas chose not to issue a statement Wednesday. Family members will have an opportunity to speak at Jette’s sentencing hearing on the afternoon of Feb. 19 in Concord.
Jette, who has been held without bail since his arrest, remains in state custody.
(Alyssa Dandrea can be reached at 369-3319 or at adandrea@cmonitor.com.)