Prosecutor at East End murder trial tells jury Christopher Hahn squirmed and gasped for air 'like something out of a horror movie'

A Suffolk prosecutor told a jury at the start of an East End homicide trial Wednesday that surveillance footage showing the alleged victim's final hours played live on monitors in the home of his accused killer, who watched for his own “depraved pleasure” as his longtime friend squirmed and gasped for air "like something out of a horror movie.”

Assistant District Attorney Elena Tomaro said during opening arguments that Christopher Hahn, 43, of Hampton Bays, had endured repeated blows to the head from an aluminum baseball bat before being dragged to the back deck of Jeremy Allen’s East Quogue home in the early morning hours of Sept. 28, 2024. Video that prosecutors promised to play for the jury will show Allen in shadow looming over Hahn, “watching, listening and whispering,” as his former high school classmate suffered in his final minutes, the prosecutor said.

“Die,” Tomaro recalled Allen whispering in audio captured by the Oakville Avenue home's surveillance system. When a bag tied over Hahn’s face didn't suffocate him, Allen grabbed a fillet knife and began “sawing at his neck,” the prosecutor said.

Allen, 44, is charged with both first- and second-degree murder, as well as tampering with physical evidence in the death of Hahn, who prosecutors said had rekindled his friendship with the alleged killer the day prior, gifting him a new pair of sneakers when he arrived at his house around 6 p.m. the night before. Tomaro said the two men, both in recovery,  planned to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting together that night but ended up drinking at a Manorville brewery instead.  Text messages shared with the jury Wednesday showed the two men airing grievances over money and past issues in their relationship before agreeing to get together.

Tomaro said something Hahn told Allen seemed to set him off shortly after 11:30 p.m., with the outside microphone capturing him shouting back.

“’What? Wait, what? No!’” Tomaro alleged Allen yelled at Hahn in the moments their night turned from jovial to homicidal. “Immediately, without any delay whatsoever, almost contemporaneous to saying the word ‘no,’ [Allen] begins to strike Hahn over and over and over again with what sounds like a baseball bat.”

Defense attorney Colin Astarita, of Hampton Bays, told the jury his client did strike Hahn with the bat repeatedly. And his intent was to kill, Astarita conceded during his own opening argument.

“He is guilty of murder,” the attorney said of the man retaining his services. “Guilty of murder in the second degree.”

The defense attorney argued prosecutors will not, however, be able to show his client intentionally subjected Hahn to prolonged pain and suffering for his own gratification, an element they must prove for a guilty verdict on the first-degree murder charge, which carries a lifetime prison sentence without the possibility of parole. Should he be convicted only of second-degree murder and tampering, Allen could be eligible for parole in less than 25 years.

Astarita pleaded with the jury to pay careful attention to the video evidence.

“Specifically, all of the swings of the baseball bat and the force that is used,” the attorney said. “An aluminum bat hitting someone’s skull at full strength, each and every one of those blows was an attempt to murder.”

Allen was arrested the afternoon of the killing, after a landscaper he called to help clean up blood splattered on the walls and floors of his home notified Southampton Town police of a discovery he made under a grill cover one of Allen’s dogs had tugged at to reveal Hahn’s legs and feet, Tomaro said.

The prosecutor said Allen called the worker, who did work at multiple homes owned by Allen’s mother, because he was not a legal U.S. citizen and he believed would be afraid to call the police. A suitcase haphazardly filled with clothes was also in the home, Tomaro said, suggesting Allen was preparing to flee before he got caught.

Tomaro said Hahn’s face had been battered so severely detectives were forced to use fingerprints to positively identify him.

Under questioning, Allen at first told police nobody else was present at his house that morning but later admitted Hahn had been there, according to prosecutors and video evidence shared at earlier court hearings. Allen eventually told investigators he had seen the body on his deck, but knew it wasn’t Hahn, who he suggested left as Allen slept. Hahn’s phone and shoes were still inside the home, Tomaro said.

She told the jury Allen’s evolving story to law enforcement “defies common sense.” The prosecutor said video and audio evidence of the beating will show he tortured Hahn and enjoyed doing so, taking breaks to watch the monitor. 

Text messages show Hahn believed Allen owed him $1,000 from a boat deal they made together years earlier, but after some back-and=forth they agreed to meet that night, appearing to bond over their shared recovery efforts. 

Tomaro told the jury Allen must have still harbored some resentment from their falling out and that he taunted Hahn during the beating, which she said lasted over six hours,  ending as the sun was coming up.

“’You’re dying, dude,’” Tomaro said Allen can be heard saying in the footage. “’You ain’t gonna get nothing good out of this.’”

The prosecutor said Allen can be seen smirking in the video, which she presented as an indication he took pleasure in the fatal attack.  He also sent Hahn a text message minutes after allegedly killing him, saying he was going to make himself a grilled cheese and "life is good," the evidence showed.

Tomaro said among the evidence that will be shared with the jury during the trial, which is expected to last about two weeks, is the bloody knife police found in the sink of Allen’s home and the baseball bat that also had Hahn’s blood on it.

Witness testimony will continue Thursday.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.