Prosecutors Rest Their Case In The 2nd-Degree Murder Of John Delee

Manchester, NH - The prosecution in the case of the State of NH vs John Delee rested their case on Thursday afternoon after calling several witnesses over a two-day period.

Thursday the first witness on the stand was actually a defense witness who went out of the normal order because he was leaving the country for a pre-planned trip. Brendan Enwright testified he was at the bar the night of the shooting, and confirmed he wasn’t familiar with any of the people who were involved.

Enright testified he was outside of the bar when Delee was ejected from the bar and witnessed an interaction with Delee and some unknown men. He testified that Delee was heard saying “The next person who touches me gets shot”, the comment was made outside the door of the Goat Bar and Grille.

Enright also testified that after that he saw Delee walking East on Old Granite Street. The witness said two other men were heard saying “This is New Hampshire pussy everyone has guns”.

The next witness was Brian Delaney who worked at the Goat Bar and Grille as a bouncer and bartender. He spoke about breaking up a fight with Delee and other people, and about Delee being ejected from the bar. He characterized Delee as being worked up and wanting to fight whoever punched him.

Dr. Mitchell Weinberg from the NH Office of the Chief Medical Examiner testified about the autopsy he performed on Timothy Pouliot. Due to restrictions set by the court, the diagrams and photos done during the autopsy were not allowed to be captured on video or still photos.

Dr. Weinberg showed the gunshot wounds and explained which were entrance wounds and which were exit wounds. He also discussed which ones caused severe damage to organs and spoke about the average male Pouliot’s size would have 5 quarts of blood in their body, Pouliot had approximately 2 quarts “pooled” in his chest from organs being hit. He determined the manner of death was homicide which is defined as a death caused by another person.

Prosecutors called Detective Morgan Lovejoy to the stand who is the person who assisted in gathering several hours of video that captured activity in the area from several businesses. Prosecutors and defense attorneys had him take the jurors through multiple videos, some with sound and some without.

When the videos were played of the shooting that could be heard, several people in the courtroom from Pouliot’s family cringed, cried, and showed strong emotions.

After Detective Lovejoy completed his testimony the prosecutors called Ajla Bajramovic to the stand who was working as a hostess at the Goat.

She testified about witnessing some of the interactions in the bar between Delee and others. She also testified to leaving in her car before the shooting happened and hearing the shooting that caused vibrations to the roof of the car. She also testified she saw Delee walking away from the immediate area, but did not see the actual shooting. After Bajramovic’s testimony, the prosecutors rested their case.

The first defense witness Matthew Soldano was called late Thursday afternoon. Soldano was friends with Delee and met up with Delee and went to a bar in Windham, and then headed to the Goat with other friends as well as Delee.

Soldano spoke about the interactions in the bar, and how he encouraged Delee to leave. He testified about Delee being agitated and that he continued to ask Delee to leave the area, and knew Delee had a gun with him.

At one point moments before the fatal shooting, Soldano testified someone lifted his shirt and asked if he had a gun. He said when the group from the parking lot was coming towards him he waved his arms urging them to stop. Suddenly he heard multiple shots and followed friends who ran into SOHO for safety not knowing what had happened.

Honorable Judge William Delker stopped the witness testimony due to the time, and Soldano will continue testifying Friday morning beginning at 10 a.m.

After the jurors cleared the courtroom some legal matters were discussed and then Delee was removed from the courtroom. As he left the courtroom people on the defendant's side of the court said “We love you John” and he waved as he was being led through the door to the holding cell.

©Jeffrey Hastings www.frameofmindphoto.com/news