Defense attorney Sebastian DeSantis on Friday questioned the strength of the state’s case against 29-year-old Shaquan Lee-Seales, the New London man who police said ordered a hit on his son’s mother and her boyfriend.

The state rested its case on Thursday having called witnesses and playing the recorded Nov. 24, 2019, phone calls Lee-Seales made from prison that Assistant State’s Attorney Stephen Carney argues depict an angry Lee-Seales calling for the murder.

A murder never did occur but police arrested three men, one of whom shot a bullet into a New London apartment near the home where the mother of Lee-Seales’ son and her boyfriend lived. No one was hit.

The defense rested its case on Friday without calling any witnesses. DeSantis, who represents Lee-Seales, told New London Superior Court Judge Shari Murphy and the six-member jury “the defense sees no need to present any witnesses.“

DeSantis asked Murphy for a judgment of acquittal and argued the state has presented no direct evidence of a conspiracy to commit murder, one of the 10 criminal charges Lee-Seales faces that include conspiracy to commit murder and accessory to attempted murder.

DeSantis argues that the phone calls that purport to show Lee-Seales order a murder are being taken out of context and that prosecutors and police have drawn conclusions based on theories rather than evidence.

DeSantis argues that Lee-Seales, in the phone calls, expressed frustration over not seeing his son more often in prison. Lee-Seales is serving a 15-year-prison sentence for manslaughter in the 2015 shooting death of Gilberto Olivencia, a fact not disclosed to jurors. Police said Lee-Seales was also angry that his son’s mother told her son he had two fathers.

In the transcripts of the phone conversations, Lee-Seales says things like “this is a statement being made. My (expletive) better (expletive) do it (expletive) today. Not tomorrow (expletive). I want today (expletive)... sling that (expletive) (expletive),” according to the police report.

“It’s really a rant he’s having,” DeSantis said. “It’s an example of him just venting his anger to someone.”

Murphy, who rejected DeSantis’ previous motion for an acquittal on Friday, has not yet ruled on the newest motion. Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for Tuesday.

The shooting in question took place on the evening of Nov. 24, 2019, when a bullet pierced a second-floor window of an apartment on Third Avenue into the room where three young girls were sleeping. The mother of Lee-Seales’ son and her boyfriend lived six doors away in the same Londonberry Gardens apartment complex, police said.

DeSantis said there’s no specifics of what Lee-Seales is asking for in the phone conversations, no discussion of a plan and no link between Lee-Seales and the shooting that occurred. Carney argued the state had put forth sufficient amount of evidence for a conviction.

g.smith@theday.com