Hamden Murder Case: Jury Finds Former Hip-Hop Artist Guilty

A jury found Stratford’s Nicholas Papantoniou, 39, guilty of felony murder and two other charges in the 2014 death of Larry Dildy at his Hamden home.

Papantoniou, a former area hip-hop artist known as “Nickel P,” faces up to 90 years in prison when he is sentenced on May 26, according to the New Haven Register.

Randall Beach of the Register reports that Papantoniou and co-defendant William Coutermash, 35, of East Haven, had differing accounts of what happened on that Sunday morning when Dildy was shot to death during a struggle in which they said was a robbery gone wrong.

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As a result, the jurors asked to re-hear Papantoniou’s testimony within an hour of beginning deliberations on Wednesday.

Papantoniou broke down in tears during his testimony on Tuesday and said that he found out Dildy died after seeing it on the news and claimed the gun went off accidentally during their struggle, according to Beach. He also said it was Coutermash’s plan and he followed Coutermash into the house.

Coutermash, who made a plea deal, testified earlier in the week that they planned to rob Dildy of money or pills and that Papantoniou went into the Circular Avenue house alone.

In addition to felony murder, in which the state does not have to prove a defendant intended to kill the victim, jurors found Papantoniou guilty of first-degree burglary and criminal possession of a firearm, according to Beach.

Read more about Thursday’s verdict at the New Haven Register here.