CT man gets life in prison in deaths of two people shot in double cross scheme
A Connecticut man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2016 deaths of a man and a woman shot in the North End of Hartford following a double cross scheme that involved drugs and a gun.
Judge Michael J. Gustafson sentenced Brandon Letman, 31, to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the fatal shootings of 21-year-old Ashley Spence, and 19-year-old Cameron Mounds Jr. on June 21, 2016, according to a statement from the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice.
On May 9, a Hartford Superior Court jury found Letman guilty of two counts of murder, murder with special circumstances, criminal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and two counts of tampering with a witness, and one count of conspiracy to commit tampering with a witness, the DCJ said.
CT man found guilty in fatal shooting of man, woman connected to double cross scheme
In addition to the life in prison sentence, Letman received an additional sentence of 10 years to run consecutively for the tampering with a witness charges, according to the DCJ.
On June 21, 2016, officers from the Hartford Police Department responded to 97 Enfield St. just before 7:30 p.m. after receiving a ShotSpotter alert to four gunshots in the area and found Mounds and Spence outside suffering from fatal gunshot wounds.
During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Letman opened fire outside of an apartment on Enfield Street after learning he was scammed in a drug deal.
According to court records, Letman allegedly received a bag of fake cocaine in a trade with Mounds, who Letman allegedly scammed by trading a fake gun.
Witnesses told investigators Letman returned to the house on Enfield Street not long after the deal and said “this gun is real” as he pulled out the weapon and started firing, court records show.
A witness during the trial testified that she was in a parked car on Enfield Street when she heard shots. She said she saw people gather around Spence, who was lying in the driveway. She had been was shot three times, according court records.
She also said she heard a woman from across the street call out that someone had been shot on her side of the street. Court records show that Mounds ran away from the gunfire but was struck as he ran across the street.
During the trial, the jury saw photos of the crime scene, including a part of the driveway where Spence was shot littered in shell casings, as well as photos of Mounds covered in a white sheet near a back door to an apartment.
After the case appeared to go cold, Letman was taken into custody in 2019 following a joint investigation by the Cold Case Unit of the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney, the Hartford State’s Attorney’s Office, the Hartford Police Department and the Connecticut Department of Correction.
“The extensive investigation included following up with multiple witnesses who had information about the fatal shootings,” the DCJ said.
LaTanya Sumlin, Spence’s mother, previously told the Courant that the verdict brought a sense of relief.
“I can breathe now,” Sumlin told the Courant. “It doesn’t change anything but I am relieved that it’s over with and that he’s being held accountable.”
Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney John F. Fahey, head of the Cold Case Unit, and Senior Assistant State’s Attorney Robin Krawczyk, who both prosecuted the case, thanked the investigators in the case and offered a special thank you to Officer Kevin Rival who reportedly listened to more than 4,900 telephone calls during the investigation related to the witness tampering charges.
“We in the Cold Case Unit, as well as members of the victims’ families, are grateful to Judge Gustafson for his careful consideration of the sentence in this case,” Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Fahey said in a statement on Monday. “We are also grateful for the judge’s thoughtful consideration and imposition of a sentence for the witness tampering charges because witness tampering interferes with the administration of justice.”
