Correa headed to March trial in Griswold triple murder
Attorneys for Sergio Correa and the state are working out evidentiary issues as they prepare for Correa's trial next year for the murders of three members of the Lindquist family in Griswold on Dec. 20, 2017.
Correa's trial in New London Superior Court is tentatively scheduled to take place in March, with Judge Arthur C. Hadden presiding. A jury of 12 regular members and several alternates will be selected to hear the case. New London State's Attorney Michael L. Regan and Senior Assistant State's Attorney Stephen M. Carney are prosecuting.
The 28-year-old former Hartford resident made his last court appearance of the year Monday, standing with public defenders Joseph E. Lopez and R. Bruce Lorenzen, who recently joined the case.
Lopez said the state had recently provided additional requested evidence, and he thinks the defense has much of what it needs, except for some communications from Hartford Correctional Center.
The attorneys for both sides are grappling with voluminous phone and social media records, and Lopez said the defense would be filing motions to challenge inclusion of some digital data and is seeking to have the state notify them to the extent possible of what would be introduced at trial. State police detectives used phone records, including texts and calls exchanged by Correa and Matthew Lindquist, as it built its case against him.
“It may make sense to have a sniper approach rather than a shotgun approach,” Lopez said.
Lopez also requested that the state notify the defense ahead of time of what two FBI experts would be testifying about.
Correa has pleaded not guilty to murder with special circumstances, three counts of felony murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree arson, second-degree arson and home invasion. He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted.
He and his adopted sister Ruth, who is also incarcerated, are charged with killing Janet, Kenneth and Matthew Lindquist and torching the family home in the Kenwood Estates subdivision. State police said Sergio Correa made a deal with Matthew Lindquist to burglarize the family home in exchange for drugs, but the siblings instead went on a killing spree, stabbing Matthew Lindquist and leaving his body in a nearby wooded area before going to the family home and viciously killing the parents and family dog.
Ruth Correa, charged with the same crimes as Sergio, is cooperating with the state and is expected to receive a 40-year prison sentence.
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