Testimony in the trial of the man accused of killing a Wesleyan University student turned to the suspect's alleged stalking of the victim.
Stephen Morgan, 32, is charged with shooting Johanna Justin-Jinich inside the cafe at Broad Street Books in Middletown in May 2009.
The two met during a summer program at New York University in 2007, but Justin-Jinich never wanted anything to do with Morgan according to friends. In court Friday, a police detective read from an email Justin-Jinich sent to Morgan Dec. 13, 2008. The email, entitled "Stop", was sent one day after Justin-Jinich had received one from Morgan, prosecutors said.
"I do not know how you found this email address. It was glaringly obvious that when I deleted my gmail account it was because of you spamming my inbox," Justin-Jinich wrote in the email. "I told you to stop contacting me. I do not want you to communicate with me at all ever. I haven't since the moment you started sending me psychotic emails and I contacted NYPD."
In the email, Justin-Jinich mentioned she did not want details of Morgan's fantasies. "You are the type of person that women take self defense classes to protect themselves against. If I ever see you in person ever I will not hesitate to defend myself against you. I am not afraid of you."
Morgan was on the run for two days after the shooting, until he walked into a Meriden convenience store and asked to use the phone. The clerk on duty that day, Sonia Rodriguez, took the stand Friday.
"He seemed kind of nervous and he couldn't dial. I took the phone and I dialed the number and I handed him the phone," Rodriguez said.
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That call was to police. Prosecutors played the call in court. In it, Morgan admitted to shooting Justin-Jinich.
Morgan's defense team claims their client was mentally ill at the time of the shooting.
