A jury trial began Monday morning in the state’s case against a man accused of shooting a woman as she walked along South Main Street in Rochester.
Justin Belanger, 22, of Rochester, is charged with two counts of second degree murder and tampering with physical evidence after allegedly killing Billy Jo Ahearn on June 5, 2018.
Ahearn was shot in the pelvis. When emergency teams arrived at the scene, located between the now closed Friendly’s and Emily Cross House, they found Ahearn with a man and a woman.
Ahearn died shortly after arriving at a local hospital.
The incident happened around midnight and some events happened on January 6, prosecutors said.
Belanger’s defense attorneys Brett Newkirk and Philip Dreher argue their client was not the killer and the jury was briefed on Monday morning before considering Bélanger to be with two other people who had run from scene to scene. where he lived on Lafayette. Rochester Street.
Newkirk and Dreher say surveillance footage shows the other two people, who allegedly jumped out of the residence window before police arrived.
The motive for the shooting has not been publicly disclosed by law enforcement.
Senior Deputy Attorney General Peter Hinckley said during a break he planned to call between 18 and 20 witnesses. The trial will last between three and five days, according to his estimates.
Contact editor-in-chief Kimberley Haas at [email protected]
