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Jury starts deliberating in Salem murder trialBRENTWOOD (AP) - A jurydeliberated 37: hours Friday and then quit for the weekend in the murder trial of one of three men accused of killing two teen-age girls.Deliberations were to resume Monday morning in Rockingham County Superior Court.Eric Jeleniewski, 20, of Lunenburg, Mass., is charged with first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Kimberly Farrah, 18, of Salem, in September 1997.In closing arguments Friday, Jeleniewski’s lawyer tried to shift the murder onto the prosecution's star witness, James Grant, 20, of Fitchburg, Mass., who already has confessed to killing the other girl, Leann Millius, 17, also from Salem.Andrew Cotrupi argued that Grant was the only one with any motive to kill Farrah.“The only person with motive to kill Kim Farrah is the person who killed Leann Millius, and we know who that is - James Grant,” he said. Grant testified that Jeleniewski described how he killed Farrah.■ Massachusetts man accused in death of Salem teen- mHVit Thc Scream-ager was allegedly obsessed with ‘Scream' film.“Are you going to base a life decision on James Grant? Cotrupi asked.Prosecutor Patrick Donovan told jurors Jeleniewski killed Farrah because he wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.“It was the ultimate kick, Donovan said.“The image the defense has painted of James Grant running around that park killing these two girls as his buddies stood idlv bv. watched• *it, then cleaned up - it's ridiculous, it's laughable. It doesn't make sense, he said.He also noted that Jeleniewski s prints were found nearby and on Farrah’s body.Grant pleaded guilty in July to killing Millius and agreed to testify against Jeleniewski in exchange for a 25-year-to-life sentence.Grant's plea bargain also calls forhim to testify against a third suspect, Christopher Doucette, 19. also of Lunenburg. Doucette will go on trial in March for Millius' death.Grant testified that Jeleniewski knew the movie “Scream bv heart and started acting out scenes in the movie before Farrah was killed.However, in closing arguments Cotrupi said if anyone is obsessed with the movie, it was Grant. He said Grant s testimony too closely mirrored scenes from the horrorflick.He pointed to Grant's testimony that Doucette stuck his finger in Millius' stab wounds and licked it, and that after Millius was killed, Doucette threw his hands up into the sky and yelled, “I'm coming for you next. There are similar scenes in The Scream.“This kid's living in a movie, C'otrupi said. “He's living in theProsecutors also played a portion of Jeleniewski’s interview in which he laughed and cracked jokes about questions police asked about the murders.“He told the police he was the biggest funny man in the world,” Donovan said. Then, holding up a picture up of Farrah s dead body, he said to the jury, “This is what he thought was a joke; this is what he was laughing about.Cotrupi said the defense does not deny Jeleniewski's behavior after the murders was inappropriate, but asked jurors not to let their emotions get in the way of facts.“He moved her, lied about it repeatedly to police, but he did not kill her. and that's what you're here for, Cotrupi said. “This is first-degree murder charge. You can't decide this case on emotion and feelings, but on the facts of thelaw.
Newspaper Details
Nashua Telegraph
Nashua, New Hampshire, US
Sat, Oct 24, 1998
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Amy C.
USA 23 Sep 2019
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