Closing Arguments in the Ryan Wright Murder Trial

The jury heard closing arguments Friday in the trial of Ryan Wright, the 32-year-old New London man charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Jamel Campbell. Campbell was shot to death at the Groton Ramada Inn on December 9, 2008.

In closing, Senior Assistant State's Attorney Paul Narducci said the story was a simple one. As Narducci told it, Campbell's pride was wounded when he heard his girlfriend had slept with Wright, and he retaliated by stealing Wright’s silver Mercedes. Feeling disrespected and upset about the loss of his vehicle, Narducci said, Wright decided to take his revenge by killing Campbell. 

“It's a story about pride, about being disrespected, and about revenge,” Narducci said.

During the trial, which began May 7 in New London Superior Court, jurors listened patiently as Narducci laid the groundwork to introduce phone records showing how Wright and accused co-conspirator Meagan Foley hatched a plan via text messages to lure Campbell to the Groton hotel with murder in mind.

Foley, 27, who appeared as a key witness for the prosecution, still faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder.

In Wright’s defense, attorney Sebastian DeSantis, presented Ashley Holley as an alibi witness. Earlier this week, Holley testified that on the night of the murder, he and Wright were hanging out together at Wright's house in New London at about 11 p.m., the time police believe the shooting occurred.

In closing, DeSantis ran down all the factors that he believed added up to reasonable doubt.  He told jurors that discrepancies between phone records he had obtained but police had not, suggested that police did not do a thorough investigation.

He also asked jurors to consider the possibility that someone other than Wright might have been using the cell phone on the day of the murder. Wright kept two cell phones in the car, DeSantis said, and there was a possibility that at least one of them was stolen with the vehicle.

DeSantis reminded jurors that police found no murder weapon and did not test Wright for gunshot residue, which would have been on his clothes or hands if he had fired a weapon. Narducci, however, had the last word, noting that Wright had ample time to clean up and get rid of a murder weapon before police came to his home more than a day later.

There’s an old saying among lawyers, Narducci said: If you don’t have the facts, pound on the law. If you don’t have the law, pound on the facts. If you have neither the facts nor the law, pound on the police. DeSantis, he said, was doing the latter, but he added, “speculation and conjecture” isn’t the same as reasonable doubt.

Finally, Narducci urged jurors to consider that if there are two conflicting theories, the simplest one is usually correct. “This is a simple story,” Narducci said.      

The jury, which began deliberating late in the day on May 20, will resume its deliberations on May 23.