| Connecticut Post Newspaper Saturday, March 24, 2007 By - Daniel Tepfer Murder-case witness tells different story Bridgeport - Jermaine O'Grinc initially told police that Miguel Zapata confessed to him about killing a Toronto man during a robbery attempt. But that apparently changed Friday, when the 21-year-old O'Grinc got on the witness stand in Superior Court and faced Zapata. "I gave police a false statment," he testified as Zapata sat at the defense table, smiling. Under questioning by Zapata's lawyer, Francis O'Reilly, O'Grinc, who is awaiting trial on robbery and assault charges, said he hoped to get some consideration on those cases when he talked to police on Sept. 6, 2006. "I was kind of scared and I decided I would let them hear what they wanted to hear and they might leave me alone, but it was a false statement," he said. But over O'Reilly's objections, Judge Lawrence Hauser allowed Senior Assistant State's Attorney C. Robert Satti Jr. to read O'Grinc's statement to the jury. In it, O'Grinc says Zapata told him he and Orema Taft fatally shot Zoltan Kiss, 24, on Sept. 28, 2001, after Kiss approached them on Pembroke Street about buying the drug Ecstasy. "He said he killed the guy, Kiss, he said they were going to rob him," according to the statement. Zapata, 22, of Bridgeport, is facing a 12-member jury, charged with Murder, Conspiracy to Commit Murder, and Carrying a Pistol Without a Permit. Zapata was later arrested in Tennessee. Taft is awaiting trial. Police Lt. Thomas Lula testified Friday that while examining the murder scene, he found a copy of that morning's Connecticut Post near the body. The newspaper held evidence police said is crucial to the case. |
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