OFF THE WIRE
BY JONATHAN SHUGARTS
REPUBLICAN-AMERICAN
WATERBURY — A 24-year-old man charged with murdering a probationary member of a motorcycle club was found not guilty of the crime Thursday in Waterbury Superior Court.
James Battista had faced life in prison for stabbing 22-year-old Ralph Pepe Jr. to death in a bar in 2009, but he was set to walk out of court a free man Thursday afternoon. Battista had testified he stabbed Pepe in Mario's Café in April 2009 and the incident was recorded on a surveillance tape that was shown to the jury.
But Battista has maintained he was scared for his life the night of the killing, because members of the Brotherhood, a local motorcycle club that Pepe was trying to join, were in the bar that night.
A 12-member jury had deliberated since Monday. At about 4:30 p.m. Thursday, they returned a verdict of not guilty on the murder charge. However, the jury was split on a charge of criminally negligent homicide, and Judge Eliot D. Prescott declared a mistrial on that count.
http://www.rep-am.com/articles/2011/05/13/news/local/557821.txt
