Apr. 21—A Hartford man who was accused of lying to police about his knowledge of a case in which a juvenile may have been falsely blamed for the fatal shooting of a 17 year old during an East Hartford marijuana deal has pleaded guilty to a related crime.

Sanjay Sivan Walsh, 26, pleaded guilty Thursday in Hartford Superior Court to conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence in the homicide case but not to making a false statement, court records show.

In separate cases, Walsh was convicted of two second-degree sexual assaults that occurred in Hartford in 2019, online court records show. He wasn't convicted of the mostly minor criminal and motor-vehicle charges he was facing in 10 other cases.

TAMPERING ADMITTED

DEFENDANT: Sanjay Sivan Walsh, 26, of Hartford.

CONVICTIONS: Conspiring to tamper with physical evidence in shooting case; two unrelated second-degree sexual assaults.

SENTENCING: Walsh faces up to 10 years, suspended after three years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation, but his lawyer will have the right to argue for a shorter sentence.

Walsh could face up to three years in prison, but his lawyer, Kirstin B. Coffin, will have the right to argue for a shorter sentence at his June 14 sentencing, records show.

Whatever prison term Walsh receives is likely to be followed by 10 years of probation, with the possibility of seven or more additional years behind bars if he violates release conditions.

He remains free on $203,000 bond while awaiting sentencing.

Police haven't publicly identified the 17-year-old who was found fatally shot on Westbrook Street on Jan. 9, 2022.

The victim's girlfriend subsequently told police he might have been trying to rob a dealer of marijuana, according to an affidavit by police Detective Frank Napolitano.

Police used surveillance video to identify the car involved in the shooting.

A day after the shooting, the son of the car's owner — Brainsley M. Beckford Jr., who is now in his early 20s and has listed an address on Poquonock Avenue in Windsor — contacted Napolitano asking for help.

Beckford told police that the shooting victim tried to reach into the car and grab the marijuana, at which point a 15-year-old boy in the car shot him. Another man who was in the car gave a similar statement, and the juvenile confessed to the shooting, the detective reported.

No one said Walsh was in the car when the shooting took place.

Beckford told police that Jahki Jaheem Clarke, now 19, of Hartford, who has since been accused of being the shooter, called Walsh to come to an apartment and take the clothing that the four men in the car were wearing.

When police interviewed Walsh, he admitted taking a bag that he was told contained garbage and throwing it away in a Windsor dumpster, according to Napolitano. Walsh denied having looked in the bag or having any involvement in the disposal of a gun, the detective added.

But another witness said he saw Walsh take the gun and drive off, Napolitano reported.

That same witness admitted having given false information in his initial statement, according to the detective. The witness said in a second statement that Clarke was the shooter — and that Clarke and Walsh told everyone to say the juvenile fired the fatal shot because they didn't believe he would get in much trouble due to his age.

Walsh had told police, however, that Beckford and Clarke told him that the juvenile really was the shooter.

Charges that include first-degree manslaughter with a firearm remain pending against Clarke, who is free on $526,000 bond, records show. Beckford is free on $100,000 bond while facing charges that include first-degree hindering prosecution.

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