Prosecutor Stephen M. Carney read six pages of potential witness names last month when introducing the murder case of LaShawn R. Cecil to prospective jurors, but when the 12-member jury begins deliberations in the coming weeks, the testimony of a single witness with a shaky history could weigh more heavily than others.

Cecil, 35, is accused of killing Jaclyn Wirth by firing a barrage of bullets through the front door of her Norwich apartment at about 1:40 a.m. on Dec. 14, 2011. Police allege he went to the apartment at 6D Baltic St. to collect a drug debt from the brother of Wirth's boyfriend.

Cecil has pleaded not guilty to murder and criminal possession of a firearm and opted for a jury trial, which is expected to begin Wednesday in New London Superior Court and last up to two weeks.

William Colello, a key witness, continues to pose problems for the prosecution. Colello helped police, whose investigation of the murder had stalled, build a case against Cecil when he provided them three sworn statements in November 2014 and January 2015. Colello said he drove Cecil and drug dealer Harold K. "Haas" Butler to Wirth's apartment to collect a drug debt owed to Butler by the brother of Wirth's boyfriend. He said Cecil got out of the car, then returned five or 10 minutes later and said, "Let's get out of here."

Neither Wirth's boyfriend Michael Boyce or the brother, Ezekiel "Juney" Boyce, who allegedly owed drug money to Butler, were living at the apartment when Wirth was killed.

Colello balked as the state prepared to call him to the witness stand in August 2015 during a preliminary court proceeding known as a probable cause hearing. He checked himself into a psychiatric ward at The William W. Backus Hospital, delaying the hearing for several days. Once he was released from the hospital and called to testify, he recanted the statements he had given to police, saying he told police what they wanted to hear after hours of interrogation.

Judge Hillary B. Strackbein relied on the sworn statements rather than his testimony when deciding the state had enough evidence to try Cecil for murder. But she noted in her decision that the state would face a higher burden of proof when the case went before a jury.

The prosecution is expected to once again call Colello, who is under subpoena, to testify at the trial.

"Mr. Colello is crucial," Carney argued in a hearing about Colello's psychiatric records last week. "He is the witness who starts to make the other information we have, particularly the cellphone records, make sense."

Carney said Colello has told the state "in no uncertain terms" that he does not want to testify, and that he thinks Colello is afraid of being hurt, or being shot, if he does testify.

Cecil's attorney, Christopher Duby, is preparing to cross-examine Colello and has attempted to convince trial Judge Barbara Bailey Jongbloed that Colello's medical records from Backus should be part of the case. Jongbloed is expected to rule in advance of Colello's testimony on whether Duby's argument met the threshold for the judge to review the psychiatric records to determine if they contain information that would help the defense case.

Duby argued, in part, that Colello had testified at the earlier hearing that he went to Backus because he thought it was a "safe haven" that would keep him from having to appear in court. But a recent document turned over by the state indicated that Colello was hospitalized after a family remember reported he was having suicidal thoughts.

Citing a recent state Appellate Court decision in State vs. Norman P., in which a Hartford-area man's conviction in a sexual assault case was overturned because the judge had refused to review psychiatric records of the victim, Duby said the court is required to review the records.

Noting the state is appealing the Norman P. decision to the Supreme Court, Carney noted it would become impossible to try cases if everyone talked to a therapist and their records became available to attorneys. He said the defense has ample information to use in cross-examining Colello without the medical records.  

Carney is expected to open the trial by playing for the jury a heartrending 911 call that Wirth made as she lay on the floor, bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds, in front of her two young children. As the life ebbed out of her, Wirth told the dispatcher she was "pouring out blood" and begged responders to hurry. In the background, her 7-year-old son cried and screamed, "I don't want you to pass out, Mom!"

k.florin@theday.com