Jason Aquino, 23, one of the three men implicated in the May 2009 Kirkland House shooting, pled not guilty to charges of murder, armed robbery, and intimidation of a juror and was held without bail Tuesday.
Aquino is now the third man to face murder charges for the death of Cambridge resident Justin Cosby, 21, who was shot in the basement of the Kirkland annex on May 18, 2009, according to the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office.
Jabrai Jordan Copney, 20, and Blayn Jiggetts, 19—who, like Aquino, are from New York City—have also been charged in Cosby’s murder.
Aquino had previously been arraigned on charges of murder before prosecutors dropped the murder charges in Sept. 2009 in part due to the investigation's developments and witness statements.
According to the release, Copney, Jiggetts, and Aquino met with Cosby in Kirkland with the intent of robbing Cosby. Multiple gunshots were fired during the meeting, and Cosby was fatally wounded.
Brittany J. Smith ’09, a former Lowell House resident and Copney's girlfriend at the time, is also facing charges relating to the incident. On March 16, she pled not guilty to accessory and firearms charges.
Smith, 22, allegedly gave her Harvard ID card—which provides electronic swipe access—to the three New York men. She did not receive her diploma last May.
A second Harvard student Chanequa N. Campbell ’09 was linked to the shooting, but she has denied any involvement and has not been charged to date. Campbell was barred from graduation last May.
—Staff writer Eric P. Newcomer can be reached at newcomer@fas.harvard.edu.
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Kirkland Shooting Suspect Aquino's Murder Charge DroppedNew York City Resident Jason Aquino, one of the three men allegedly involved in the fatal Kirkland House shooting this
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Shooting Suspects Now Held in MassachusettsThe three men accused of participating in the murder of Cambridge resident Justin Cosby in Kirkland House last spring are
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Murder Charge Dropped For One Shooting Suspect<p>New York City Resident Jason Aquino, one of the three men allegedly involved in the fatal Kirkland House shooting this May, will not be charged for murder, prosecutors said today.</p><p>Aquino, 23, will now face charges of being an accessory after the fact of armed robbery and carrying a firearm without license. He has been held without bail since his lower court arraignments on August 3. New bail will be set at Aquino’s arraignment tomorrow in Middlesex Superior Court.</p><p>Corey Welford, a spokesman for the Middlesex district attorney’s office, told the Associated Press that prosecutors dropped the murder charges in part due to “additional developments of the facts and witness statements.”</p><p>Welford declined to disclose any new details about the May 18th shooting, citing the secrecy of the grand jury process.</p><p>First-degree charges remain against the two other men, Jabrai Jordan Copney, 20, and Blayn “Bliz” Jiggetts, 19. Copney pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, and Jiggetts is awaiting extradition from New York.
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Murder Charge Dropped For One Shooting SuspectNew York City Resident Jason Aquino, one of the three men allegedly involved in the fatal Kirkland House shooting this
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Killing Suspects To Plead GuiltyBlayn Jiggetts and Jason Aquino—two of the three men implicated in the May 2009 Kirkland House shooting—have made an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge in exchange for cooperating with the district attorney’s office.
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Kirkland Trial Day 7: Blayn Jiggetts Says It Wasn’t Worth ItBlayn Jiggetts—the defendant in the Kirkland shooting case who allegedly brought and loaded the gun that killed Justin Cosby—began his testimony yesterday in the trial of alleged shooter Jabrai Jordan Copney.