Jassy Correia’s killer sent flirty texts while her body was in his apartment, prosecution says

Newly released messages show that the man accused of kidnapping and killing Jassy Correia from a Boston club last year was sending flirty texts to a different woman he’d met at the club while Correia’s body was in his apartment, prosecutors say.

“Texting a person one met at a club to set the stage for a future encounter while one has the dead or dying body of another young woman in one’s residence is anything but an ‘interaction … typical between party goers,’ ” the U.S. Attorney’s office wrote in a motion this week.

The prosecution was trying to rebut a few different claims made by Coleman’s defense that his lawyers say are mitigating factors that could help their client avoid approval of the death penalty. One was that his texts trying to pick up another woman he’d met at the club that night were such “typical” night-out messages, suggesting that if the crime occurred, it was in the moment — and not a planned kidnapping.

Prosecutors write that “after striking out that night with L.H., he noticed the victim out on Tremont Street attempting to obtain a ride from an Uber; that he stood and watched what was happening for about 40 seconds; and that he swooped in after the Uber driver had pushed the victim out of his vehicle.”

The prosecution included texts between Coleman and an unnamed woman the day after he allegedly kidnapped the 23-year-old Correia, who’d been out at a birthday celebration at a Boston club. The woman says, “But definitely hit me up and we can meet up,” to which Coleman responds, “yeah sounds like a plan!” followed by a smiley face.

The prosecution says those happened around 4 p.m. Feb. 24, just about 12 hours after video from the lobby of Coleman’s Providence apartment building showed him dragging Correia’s topless body toward an elevator.

The defense also had sought more information about Correia’s drunken fight with a friend and her history of getting drunk “to the point of being maced and physically pulled off other people,” according to one witness.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling is still mulling whether to seek the death penalty in the case, as Coleman’s federal charge of kidnapping resulting in death carries that option. In federal death-penalty cases, the U.S. Attorney needs to seek approval from the U.S. Attorney General, with the defense being able to argue why it shouldn’t be applied.

Coleman pleaded not guilty in April 2019, and is next due in court Sept. 30.

Four days later, Coleman was behind the wheel of a red Buick, driving south on Interstate 95, when Delaware state troopers stopped him. When they asked if anyone else was in the car, Coleman allegedly said, “She’s in the trunk.”

That’s where cops then found Correia’s beaten and strangled body.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2DMVVx1