BARRE — The first-degree murder trial of Jayveon Caballero got underway Thursday, as both sides laid out opening statements and the state began to question its first witnesses.
Caballero, 31, is facing a possible life sentence for the murder of former Vermont Frost Heaves basketball player Markus Austin, who was shot outside his Montpelier home in January 2017, a few hours after Austin and Caballero got into a bar fight in Barre. In the fight, Austin struck Caballero’s girlfriend, breaking her jaw.
As the trial began, the prosecution emphasized two words: disrespect and revenge. They argued that when Austin struck Caballero’s girlfriend at the bar earlier that night, Caballero was disrespected.
They argued Caballero got more and more riled up as he waited at the hospital while his girlfriend was treated for the fracture to her jawbone. That’s why, Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Anderson said in court, he made call after call after call from the hospital trying to find out where Austin went.
That’s why, prosecutors allege, Caballero waited outside Austin’s apartment so that when he got home later that night, he could shoot and kill him.
“When Markus punched Desiree in the face, the defendant was motivated by revenge, setting the scene for him to execute a plan that culminated in him intentionally firing his gun at Markus and killing him, and for that, he is guilty of first-degree murder,” Anderson said.
When the defense took the stand, attorney Daniel Sedon didn’t dispute many of the prosecution’s facts. He reiterated almost all of them — how the fight at the bar went down, how mad Caballero was while he waited at the hospital, and how Caballero drove to Austin’s house late that night, and waited outside for him to arrive home.
What he did dispute, however, was what Caballero intended to do there.
When the bullet from Caballero’s gun struck the windshield of Austin’s car early that January morning, it didn’t puncture the driver’s side, Sedon said. It wouldn’t have even hit a passenger, had they been sitting in the car, he said. Instead, Sedon said, the bullet hit the windshield in the left-most, bottom-most corner. It was closer to hitting the pillar of the car then it was to striking the car’s driver, according to Caballero’s attorney.
But because of the way windshields break, the bullet struck the tempered glass, and curved toward Austin, Sedon argued, striking him in the aorta and killing him.
After the shot was fired, Sedon told the jury, Caballero didn’t run off. Instead, he walked toward Austin’s body, saying “You OK, n****? You OK?” Sedon said an eyewitness, who watched the aftermath of the shooting from his apartment window described Caballero then putting his hands on his head, in a kind of “what have I done?” gesture, before ultimately fleeing the state.
“He intended to shoot, but he didn’t intend to kill anybody,” Sedon said. “If it was your intention to cause the death of another human being, you would’ve fired more than once, and you would’ve fired in the direction of that person.”
Sedon argued the outcome of the gunshot was unanticipated and unintended. According to Sedon, it did not meet the standards of “willful,” “intentional,” and “premeditated” that are required for a first-degree murder conviction.
The prosecution also questioned its first witnesses in the trial. They spoke with Austin’s girlfriend and co-worker, neither of whom witnessed the bar fight or the shooting, about how he spent the last day of his life.
They also questioned a tenant and property manager of the apartment building where Austin was shot, as well as a Montpelier Police Department detective about the layout of the property and what could be discerned from security camera footage. The footage only showed the inside of the building, with one angle showing a small window with a narrow view of the parking lot where Austin died.
Questioning of witnesses will continue Friday, and into the next several weeks. The trial is expected to end around Nov. 19.
Sixteen jurors were chosen to deliberate the case. Four will be randomly selected as alternates at the end of the trial.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Murder trial begins in 2017 shooting of ex-Frost Heaves player.