>Wesleyan Murder Trial Begins With Police Testimony

Sign Up For Traffic Text Alerts Justin-Jinich, a Wesleyan junior who worked in the bookstore's Red & Black Café, was shot to death. The state says the gunman was Stephen Morgan of Marblehead, Mass.On the first day of testimony in Morgan's murder trial, Prosecutor Timothy Liston began trying to prove that Morgan, 32, intentionally killed Justin-Jinich.Liston presented eight witnesses and more than 50 pieces of evidence Wednesday, some of it lace front wigs allegedly left behind by the gunman. The case is being heard by a three-judge panel made up of Judge Susan B. Handy, the presiding judge, Judge Julia Aurigemma and Judge James Bentivegna.Morgan greeted his family with a subdued wave as he was led into the courtroom. As the day went on, he rarely talked to his lawyers, Richard Brown and John Maxwell, who are planning to prove that Morgan was insane at the time of the shooting.On the other side of the courtroom, family and friends of Justin-Jinich listened; one struggled to hold back tears, another glared at Morgan.After Gerhardt's testimony, Barry Finder, a classmate of Justin-Jinich, testified that he, too, saw the shooting. He said he heard "very loud" sounds "in rapid succession," and saw the shooter with his "arm extended straight out" near the cash register."I looked at full lace wigs him, he looked around the room and he ran," Finder said. He described the gunman as having very long hair and wearing a black sweatshirt and cargo pants.Shown a surveillance photo of what looks like a long-haired man walking in the store, Finder said, "That's the man who I watched shoot Johanna. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind."Among the many pieces of evidence Morgan is alleged to have left behind is a long-haired wig. Police said he fled down a conveyor belt that goes from the café to the basement after the shooting, shedding the wig and a baseball chinese hair cap, among other things, including a laptop computer and its case.Amy Tosto, who also worked with Justin-Jinich, said, "I saw my co-worker getting … shot," pausing before finishing the sentence."I saw her fall to the ground, and I saw a shooter," Tosto said. "You could tell it was a person in disguise."She said Justin-Jinich was "bleeding heavily" and was "out of it." She was not talking, she testified, just moaning.Sean Moriarty, a Middletown police captain who was among the first officers at the scene, was the first to testify Wednesday. He said he saw a woman on the floor behind the café counter."I just saw a lot of blood," he said.After learning that the gunman had gone downstairs, he and another officer kicked in a door and went to the basement, where racks of clothes are on display. He saw a baseball cap and a laptop computer on the conveyor belt, and saw a wig on the floor and eyeglasses on a shelf, he testified.Later, a state police detective testified that he checked the settings on the computer and saw that its owner, or "administrator," was listed as Stephen Morgan. Morgan had a post office box in Massachusetts, he said.