Visual Evidence is Key in Murder Case

SPRINGFIELD MURDER CHARGES DROPPED

Updated: Wednesday, 24 Mar 2010, 7:50 PM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 24 Mar 2010, 1:00 PM EDT

* Anthony DiLorenzo

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) - Darryl Daniels was set to stand trial for a 2008 murder today. But in an eleventh hour move, the Hampden County District Attorney's office dropped the charges after realizing they had the wrong man all along.

“There was information that came to our attention in January and February that caused us to review all the evidence,” said First Assistant District Attorney James Orenstein.

The District Attorney's office is starting from scratch now on the murder of Jamile Guest and says no arrest in the case is imminent.

“There was certain eyewitness testimony presented before the grand jury, which was the basis of the indictment,” explained Orenstein.

It became clear in January and February the eyewitness as well as surveillance video mistakenly lead to the arrest of the wrong suspect.

The surveillance cameras that are outside the Honeyland Farms convenience store are what were able to clear Daniels of these charges.

“The person on the video is at least 6 feet or taller and Darryl Daniels is on his best day, 5'6" tall,” said defense attorney David Hodge.

On June 16, 2008, Guest was gunned down in the early morning hours in Springfield’s south end. Daniels was arrested a month later at the blackjack table at Mohegan Sun casino.

And while this isn't a get out of jail free card; Daniels' lawyer says his client is relieved, “and grateful for the fact this is finally over,” said Hodge.

Darryl Daniels will stay in jail. He's been sentenced to four years in state prison for a previous firearms charge.

Surveillance Video Leads to Exoneration

Darryl Daniels of Springfield grateful murder charge against him dropped, despite time served in jail, lawyer says

Buffy Spencer

March 24, 2010, 4:00PM

SPRINGFIELD – The man who saw a murder charge against him dropped on the eve of trial is not bitter or angry that he spent nearly two years in jail waiting for the case to be heard, said his lawyer.

Instead, Darryl J. Daniels is relieved that the charge that could have landed him in prison for life was dropped, said his lawyer, David A. Hodge.

Daniels’ time in the Hampden County Correctional Center since his July 21, 2008, arrest on the June 16, 2008, murder will be credited to a four-year sentence he received on an unrelated drug and gun case.

Hodge said he had expert testimony ready to present at the trial to prove that the person depicted on a store security videotape near the site of Jamile R. Guest’s fatal shooting was at least 6 feet tall, while Daniels is about 5 feet, 5½ inches tall.

“What we tried to impress upon the prosecutor’s office fairly early on was that the surveillance video didn’t support that it was him,” Hodge said.

Hodge said that leading up to the trial he had secured the services of some experts in the field of video who could show by various measurements that the person depicted at the murder scene was substantially taller than Daniels.

Guest was gunned down at 2:15 a.m. as he exited the Honeyland Farms convenience store at 806 Main St.

Daniels’ trial was set to begin on Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court, but Assistant District Attorney James C. Orenstein on Tuesday gave a document to Judge Constance M. Sweeney saying the prosecution will be dropped.

In an unrelated case, Daniels, 24, of Springfield, had pleaded guilty in early 2009 to charges from a 2006 case involving his arrest when police responded to a report of shots fired outside a Lil’ Wayne concert at the Hippodrome nightclub.

Daniels was out on bail while awaiting resolution of the Hippodrome case when the shooting occurred.

Hodge said that the public portrayal of Daniels was that he was out on bail on one crime, shot a man to death, and then was off gambling. Daniels was arrested at Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut.

Surveillance Video Analysis Proves Misidentification

SPRINGFIELD – Citing a possible misidentification, the state has ended the murder prosecution of 24-year-old Darryl J. Daniels for the July 21, 2008, fatal shooting of Jamile R. Guest outside a convenience store in the city’s South End neighborhood.

Daniels’ murder trial was set to begin on Wednesday in Hampden Superior Court, but assistant district attorney James C. Orenstein on Tuesday gave a document to Judge Constance M. Sweeney saying the prosecution will be dropped.

The “nolle prosequi” filing, which technically ends the murder case at this time, cited identification as the primary issue for the prosecution.

“Information has become known to the commonwealth since the time of the indictment that was not available to the grand jury that raises a question as to the accuracy of the identification,” Orenstein said.

That information, received as recently as January and February, came from several sources, including other law enforcement agencies, according to Orenstein. “It is not in the best interests of justice to proceed without fully investigating this additional information,” the prosecutor wrote.

If a continuing investigation uncovers new evidence, Daniels’ case could be brought before a grand jury for another indictment.

Guest was gunned down at 2:15 a.m. on June 16, 2008, as he exited the Honeyland Farms convenience store at 806 Main St. His assailant was waiting for him in the parking lot and fired several times, according to police.

Guest was hit once and tried to flee, but collapsed at Main and Central streets. He died later at Baystate Medical Center, police said.

Daniels, who was out on bail in a 2006 case when the shooting occurred, was arrested a month after the killing on the murder warrant while playing blackjack at Mohegan Sun casino, police said.

Daniels’ time spent in jail since his 2008 arrest will be credited to a four-year sentence for an unrelated drug and gun case. Daniels pleaded guilty on July 21, 2008, to charges from a 2006 case involving his arrest when police responded to a report of shots fired outside a Lil’ Wayne concert at the Hippodrome nightclub. A gun and quantities of cocaine and marijuana were seized from the car driven by Daniels.

The agreement was that Daniels would be sentenced to four years in state prison. The sentence was not formally imposed at that time so Daniels could remain in the Hampden County Correctional Center in Ludlow for court appearances while the murder case was pending.

David M. Hodge, Daniels’ lawyer in the murder case, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Orenstein said the Guest homicide investigation will now focus on a key piece of electronic evidence, which he did not specify.