Jason L. Washington Jr., is scheduled to go on trial for murder next month.
Prosecutors will be able to show jurors photos and videos posted on Facebook that they say link a Buffalo man to the August 2019 killing of a youth football coach when the accused killer goes on trial next month.
Erie County Court Judge Susan Eagan on Friday ruled that prosecutors can play videos that they say show Jason L. Washington Jr. in possession of a black revolver, the type of gun used to kill Norzell « Nore » Aldridge.
A Buffalo youth league football coach — viewed as a role model by many of his players — was fatally shot Saturday evening not far from where his team had just lost its first game of the season, according to people at the scene as well as others who knew the
They can also show jurors a video of a person, who prosecutors say is Washington, handling a bullet. The bullet in the video is the same type of ammunition used to kill Aldridge, and which was also found behind Washington’s grandmother’s house two days after the homicide, Assistant District Attorney Eugene Partridge said in court.
Washington’s jury trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 28.
Washington, 20, has been charged with killing Aldridge, 36, in a double shooting after a youth football game Aug. 31, 2019, near the corner of Koons Avenue and Sycamore Street. Washington was 17 at the time of the shooting.
A 17-year-old charged with killing a youth football coach and shooting two other people in Buffalo this summer has been no stranger to
Aldridge was shot while he was trying to break up a fight, people at the scene and others who knew him said after the shooting, which also injured a 20-year-old man. The dispute was not related to the football game, they said.
The killing itself was captured on video, though the quality of the footage is « grainy, » Partridge told the judge. It was taken from a camera at a home near the shooting scene, he said.
Defense attorney Brian Parker, who is representing Washington, along with Scott Riordan, described the video quality as « far more than a little grainy. »
Some of the pictures and videos, which prosecutors say were posted to Washington’s Facebook account, depict Washington wearing various pieces of clothing that match what the person who fatally shot Aldridge wore at the time, Partridge said. The person in the photos also has a distinctive haircut that is the same as the killer’s, he said.
Two days after Aldridge was killed, Buffalo police were called to Washington’s grandmother’s home on Shirley Avenue after the house was shot up, Partridge said. Washington had been staying at his grandmother’s home at the time of the Aug. 31 double shooting, he added.
Jason L. Washington Jr. has already been charged in a double shooting last summer that killed youth football coach Norzell Aldridge and wounded another man. Washington also was charged in a nonfatal shooting that happened a few weeks prior. Now, the 18-year-old has been accused of two more gun-related incidents, according to the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. Washington
Detectives found spent .40-caliber casings in front of the house and unspent .32-cablier « automatic cartridges » behind the house, which did not appear to be associated with the gunfire into the home, he said.
The bullet that killed Aldridge – a .32-caliber « automatic cartridge »– was removed from his body during an autopsy by the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office, Partridge said.
The bullets found at the home and the bullet in the Facebook videos « are visually identical, » he said.
Eagan also ruled that the defense may not question any witnesses about Aldridge’s reputation or criminal history. The only person that might be able to be asked about Aldridge’s reputation is Washington, if he takes the stand in his own defense, and that’s only if his attorneys argue the shooting was in self-defense.
Prosecutors believe Washington and Aldridge were strangers at the time of the shooting, Partridge told the judge. Before the defense could ask Washington any such questions, they’d have to show Washington had prior knowledge about Aldridge.
Norzell Aldridge’s friends are asking if the football coach would be alive if not for a stop that took up to two minutes en route to
Eagan said she would only allow such testimony if Washington takes the stand and makes a claim of self-defense.
Aldridge, of Cheektowaga, coached the Beast Elite Ducks, a team of 9- and 10-year-olds.
Prior to the homicide, Washington was no stranger to police. He had contact with police since at least the age of 11, The Buffalo News previously reported.
Reach Aaron at abesecker[at]buffnews.com or 716-849-4602.
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Jason Washington, 17, of Buffalo stands accused of killing a youth football coach and wounding two others in two shootings this summer. And those aren’t the only charges he
Norzell Aldridge, 36, was shot Saturday while trying to defuse a dispute between two teenagers not related to the youth football game he had just coached, several people told The Buffalo
Jason L. Washington Jr., is scheduled to go on trial for murder next month.
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