Jean Jacques, whose conviction in the June 15, 2015, murder of Casey Chadwick in Norwich was overturned last month by the state Supreme Court, pleaded not guilty Thursday in New London Superior Court.

The victim's family members, who thought Jacques would be serving a 60-year prison sentence, watched as the 44-year-old Jacques was led before Judge Hillary B. Strackbein in a red prison jumpsuit.

Due to the Supreme Court's reversal of his 2016 conviction, Jacques is once again considered a criminal defendant. Strackbein read Jacques his rights and his attorney, Sebastian DeSantis, entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Chadwick's mother, Wendy Hartling, granted interviews to print and television reporters and vowed to attend all of Jacques' court dates as the case heads back to trial.

"It begins again," she said.

Hartling said she would prefer that Connecticut still had the death penalty.

The Supreme Court determined Norwich police conducted an illegal, warrantless search of a Norwich apartment Jacques had rented five days before he was arrested.

During the trial, the prosecution was allowed to present evidence indicating detectives searched Jacques' apartment at 5 Crossway St. on July 15, 2015, based on a tip from Jacques' prison cellmate, and found the victim's cellphone and crack cocaine hidden in a hole in the bathroom wall. The investigators entered the apartment with permission from the landlord, and once they saw the items in the wall, they left and obtained a search and seizure warrant, according to testimony.

The Supreme Court cited Connecticut's landlord-tenant law in its ruling and indicated that Jacques still had the expectation of privacy at his apartment, even though he was incarcerated and had not paid the rent that was due five days before the search.

Jacques is being held in lieu of $1 million at the Cheshire Correctional Institution, and prosecutor David J. Smith asked that the bond remain in place "based on the information the state has as to the guilt of the defendant."

Much of the same evidence is expected to be aired again for the retrial.

Hartling, who was outraged that Jacques, a Haitian national, had not been deported after a 1996 conviction for attempted murder, said she has alerted immigration officials about the high court reversal of his conviction.

Released on parole in 2012, Jacques was detained by Immigrations & Custom Enforcement officials, who attempted to deport him three times. Haiti refused to take him, claiming Jacques did not have the required identification documents. He was detained a total of 205 days and released back into the community.

His next court date is Oct. 10.

k.florin@theday.com