Correction: The man appearing in the main photo published with a previous version of this article was incorrectly identified as Jayveon Cabellero. It was Jason Lawton, a former St. Albans police officer charged with simple assault on Monday.
BARRE – A jury convicted Jayveon Caballero of second-degree murder in the shooting death of a man in Montpelier stemming from a fight at a bar earlier that night in nearby Barre.
Caballero, 31, stood straight between his two attorneys at the defense table Monday night and appeared to be looking down at the verdict was read.
The verdict was not as harsh as the first-degree murder conviction in the January 2017 death of Markus Austin that prosecutors had been seeking.
Caballero’s attorneys had argued that the shooting did not meet the standards of “willful,” “intentional,” and “premeditated” required for the jury to return a first-degree murder conviction.
They asked the jury to return a conviction of a lesser charge than first degree, raising the possibility of an involuntary manslaughter conviction.
The jury began its deliberations around 5 p.m. Monday, returning its verdict a little after 10 p.m.
“As to the charge of first-degree murder how does the jury find?” Judge Mary Morrissey asked the jury foreperson.
“We find the defendant not guilty,” he responded.
“And as to the charge of second-degree murder how does the jury find?” Morrissey asked.
“We find the defendant guilty,” the foreperson replied.
A charge of second-degree murder carries a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. A first-degree murder conviction carries a sentenced of 35 years to life in prison.
Austin was the first player signed by the semi-pro Vermont Frost Heaves basketball team, which folded in 2011. He was 33 years old when he died.
In the two years prior to the shooting he had worked as a mental health specialist at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital.
The shooting on Barre Street in Montpelier happened early in the morning of Jan. 22, 2017, in the parking lot of Austin’s apartment where he lived with his girlfriend and young child.
After the verdict was announced Monday night, Caballero was ordered to continue to be held without bail. No sentencing date was set, and attorneys are expected to file post-trial motions.
Attorneys for both the prosecution and defense left the courtroom Monday night declining comment on the jury’s verdict.
Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan, whose office prosecuted the case, issued a statement late Monday night.
“We are grateful to the jury for their service, and we agree with the verdict,” Donovan said in the statement.
“This unnecessary act of violence should not have occurred in our community,” he added. “Our team will continue to hold accountable perpetrators of violent crimes, like the one committed by Mr. Caballero.”
A central issue in the case centered on Caballero’s intent, with prosecutors contending that he targeted Austin out of revenge, while his attorney argued that although he fired his gun, he didn’t mean to kill.
The shooting took place, according to prosecutors, just hours after a bar fight in Barre between the two men. In that fight, Austin reportedly struck Caballero’s girlfriend, Desiree Carey, in her face and broke her jaw.
Later that night, Caballero went to Austin’s apartment and when Austin arrived Caballero shot and killed him, according to the prosecution.
During opening arguments in the trial that began Nov. 7, Assistant Attorney General Elizabeth Anderson laid out the prosecution’s case.
“When Markus punched Desiree in the face, the defendant was motivated by revenge,” Anderson told jurors, “setting the scene for him to execute a plan that culminated in him intentionally firing his gun at Markus and killing him, and for that, he is guilty of first-degree murder.”
Daniel Sedon, in his argument to the jury, didn’t dispute the events leading to the confrontation in the parking lot of Austin’s apartment in Montpelier.
However, the defense attorney said, Caballero never intended to kill Austin.
“He intended to shoot, but he didn’t intend to kill anybody,” Sedon said. “If it was your intention to cause the death of another human being, you would’ve fired more than once, and you would’ve fired in the direction of that person.”
Sedon told jurors that the shot fired by Caballero struck the windshield of Austin’s vehicle, and that it didn’t puncture the driver’s side and wouldn’t have hit a passenger had one had been in the vehicle.
The bullet struck the windshield in the left-most, bottom-most corner, closer to hitting the pillar of the vehicle then it was to striking the car’s driver, the defense attorney added.
However, the bullet struck the tempered glass, and curved toward Austin, Sedon argued, striking him in the aorta and killing him.
It was the first murder in Montpelier in a century.
