https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Jury-resumes-deliberations-Monday-in-Troy-murder-12852314.php
Jury to resume deliberations Monday in Troy murder case
Published 6:34 pm, Friday, April 20, 2018
TROY – A Rensselaer County Court jury focused Friday on how witnesses identified the alleged killer of a Troy man who died from stab wounds in an Oakwood Avenue apartment last summer.
On the stand, Anthony M. Rickett, 52, of Third Avenue denied that he met any of the people in the apartment and who identified him as being in the bedroom where Leonard “G” Ellis was stabbed, or the person who provided an alleged motive for the attack.
Rickett is on trial for second-degree murder for allegedly killing Ellis. The jury of six men and six women deliberated for about six hours Friday before being sent home for the weekend. They will resume deliberations at 9 a.m. Monday.
Defense lawyer Timothy Nugent emphasized during his closing that jurors had to determine the veracity of those testifying and their motivations. He said there was no physical evidence to consider that would link Rickett to Ellis.
“This case hinges entirely on identify. The only evidence you got is identification,” Nugent said.
“You don’t what G did in there. You don’t know if G attacked the person,” said Nugent, referring to Ellis by his nickname.
Assistant District Attorney Carl Rosenkranz sought to keep the jury focused by dealing with the circumstances of the people involved and where Ellis was fatally assaulted on July 11.
“This was essentially a flophouse where people went in and out to use drugs and have sex,” Rosenkranz said.
He reminded them this was a simple and straight forward case of murder.
Rickett, identified by the nickname of Mike, waited inside the apartment building until someone opened the door to it, Rosenkranz said, recalling the testimony of Cecelia Davenport. When the door opened, Rickett rushed in to attack Ellis, Rosenkranz said. The assistant district attorney simulated the knife attack that Davenport said she saw with three thrusts during his closing remarks.
Rosenkranz reminded the jurors that while Ellis was a drug addict and maybe even a killer, “he did not deserve to have his human life cut off.”
The jury asked County Court Judge Debra Young for readbacks of the testimony of three police officers and four other prosecution witnesses, three of whom were in the apartment when Ellis was stabbed.
