Griffin pinned the shooting on Nathan L. Johnson, who last week testified he saw Griffin shoot Bradley twice in the back. Johnson has entered into a cooperation agreement with the state, by which he pledged to testify truthfully about what happened the night of Oct. 14, 2013, on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard. Griffin, 25, of Peck Street, is charged with felony murder, murder, attempted first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. Johnson, also of New Haven, originally was charged with felony murder. Under the cooperation agreement, prosecutors dropped that charge and he pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree robbery and conspiracy to commit first-degree robbery. He faces a prison sentence of up to 30 years but conceded during his testimony he hopes he will receive less time in exchange for his cooperation. Griffin told police during the later part of about 31/2 hours of questioning on Oct. 20, 201,3 that he shot Bradley. But the jurors Thursday heard testimony from Williams College professor Alan Hirsch, an expert on false confessions, who said aggressive police questioning sometimes compels a suspect to confess to a crime he didn’t commit. During a lengthy cross-examination by Senior Assistant State’s Attorney John P. Doyle Jr., Griffin acknowledged that at the start of his interview with two detectives he read and signed a Miranda form advising him he had the right to remain silent and to ask for an attorney to be present. Griffin also conceded under Doyle’s questioning that the detectives told him he could stop the questioning at any time. But Griffin said he felt pressured by the detectives. “I thought I had no choice. They kept telling me I did it. I kept saying I had nothing to do with the crime.” Under questioning by defense attorney Wade Luckett, Griffin said he believed the detectives when they told him surveillance cameras had recorded the shooting (no cameras were present) and that if he didn’t confess the police would arrest his mother. Luckett asked Griffin what he thought Detective Nicole Natale meant when she told him he could “get the chair” and “fry.” Griffin replied, “I took that to mean the electric chair, the death penalty.” Griffin, who was seen with his eyes closed at times during the videotape of the interrogation, was asked by Luckett whether he had fallen asleep. “Yes, I nodded off a couple of times,” Griffin said. In his account of the events of Oct. 14, 2013, Griffin said he arrived at a friend’s house on Goffe Street at about 6 p.m. He said he saw about seven people on the front porch and they were smoking marijuana and drinking. Griffin said he heard a conversation there between Johnson and Ebony Wright, during which Johnson handed a cellphone to Wright. Griffin said she then made a phone call to someone and asked to buy some marijuana. (Wright has pleaded nolo contendere to attempted second-degree robbery in this case and is awaiting sentencing.) Shortly afterward, Griffin testified, while he was walking toward the Boulevard with Wright and Johnson, a white Chrysler pulled up. “Nate walked over to the car,” he said. “Ebony was right behind him.” When Luckett asked Griffin how far he was from the car, Griffin said: “I was a good 20 feet away.” Asked why he had kept his distance, Griffin said, “I knew a sale to buy marijuana was being conducted and I didn’t want any part of it.” “I’m walking away from the car,” Griffin continued. “My back is to the car. I heard two, I believe, gunshots go off. I ran. Griffin said he returned to the Goffe Street house and soon afterward saw Johnson and Wright come back. Griffin testified: “Nate handed me a black bag. I felt I had no choice but to accept it. I felt my life was in danger. I’d just heard two shots go off.” Griffin said he saw a gun barrel protruding from the bag. “I put the bag across the handlebars of my bike and rode home. I put the bag in the attic.” He added he tried to sell the rifle to a man he knew. But then police raided the house, seized the weapon and arrested him on a weapon charge. When Doyle began his cross-examination, he asked Griffin about his criminal record. Griffin acknowledged he has been convicted of four felonies. Doyle asked: “This is the first time you’ve ever said Nathan Johnson pulled the trigger and shot Nathaniel Bradley?” Griffin, who remained calm and polite during Doyle’s questioning, replied: “Yes, sir.” When Doyle asked Griffin about his reported reluctance to get involved with a marijuana transaction, he asked: “Do you smoke weed”? Griffin’s reply: “No, sir.” Doyle then cited a letter Griffin wrote to a friend from prison in which he said, “I was high that night (of the crime) on Molly and LSD.” Griffin agreed he had written those words but again said, “I don’t smoke weed.” Doyle also played back a recording of a call Griffin made to his mother from prison. When she reported what she had told an investigator about the rifle, Griffin said they would “have to work around that.” Later Doyle read from another letter Griffin wrote from prison to Johnson. Griffin told him: “Don’t talk to nobody regarding our case. They don’t got (expletive).” “The reality is,” Doyle asked, “you were in fear of him coming forward and testifying like he did last week?” Griffin replied: “No, sir.” Doyle picked up the rifle that police have linked to the shooting. “You approached him (Bradley) with the gun and pointed it at him? When he wouldn’t give it up, you shot him twice in the back?” Griffin: “No, sir.”
https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Defendant-in-New-Haven-killing-pins-crime-on-12618153.php
