Testimony in the Nicole duFresne murder trial continued yesterday with Adam Chavez, who said he was mugged earlier by the same group of youths who later had a fatal confrontation with duFresne in January 2005 on the Lower East Side. Chavez testified that Rudy Fleming, who is on trial for duFresne's death, was the man who pistol whipped him into giving up his leather jacket. But Chavez instead ran from the group towards a cab. An interesting fact: Chavez said he called the police after teh 1:45AM attack; as the NY Times writes, "It was unclear from his testimony whether the police searched for his attackers and why the group was still on the street at 3:15 a.m. when Ms. duFresne, walking with her fiancé and two friends, was killed during a robbery."
The prosecution has been arguing that the group was getting more and more violent as the night progressed and used video surveillance footage from Schiller's, Banco Popular and Dunkin' Donuts and Metrocard usage information to show where the group had been. Fleming's defense attorney has been trying to argue that the shooting was accidental; his client has refused to attend the trial, a seeming act of protest after being removed from court due his unruly behavior last week.
The murder weapon, a .357 Magnum, was found under Flmeing's bed. Fleming had been staying with his godfather Servino Simmon, who testified, “If you were going through what I’ve gone through, you wouldn’t remember your name. You think I’m happy about it? If I could change it I would.”
Gothamist on the Nicole duFresne murder.
