Jurors in Jeremy Allen murder trial watch video of how victim Christopher Hahn spent final hours

Shortly after 8 p.m. on a Friday night in September 2024, Christopher Hahn danced his way around a Manorville brewery. His arms raised over his head, he shook and stepped his way between tables in the crowded tasting room, seemingly having a good time.

Ten hours later, he took his final breath on the back deck of the home of the man accused of killing him.

What was said and done as those Friday night hours turned to Saturday morning — much of it captured on home surveillance and played for the jury at the trial of Jeremy Allen — will be crucial in determining the alleged killer’s fate.

The footage leaves no doubt Allen, 44, of East Quogue, killed Hahn. The question for the jury of seven men and five women is if the recording of the beating and stabbing shows Allen tortured his former Hampton Bays High School classmate for his own pleasure or gratification, elements necessary for prosecutors to prove first-degree murder.

Defense attorney Colin Astarita, of Hampton Bays, said during opening arguments Wednesday that his client is only guilty of second-degree murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in state prison. If convicted of first-degree murder, Allen would face life without parole.

"The distinction between those two is very important," Astarita told the jury before State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei in Riverhead. Allen is charged with both offenses and tampering with physical evidence.

Astarita told the jury that Mazzei will explain the law and the specifics regarding torture but said it should be clear his client’s intent was to quickly kill Hahn when he struck him repeatedly with a baseball bat and not to torture him for a prolonged period of time.

Moments after the first strike, Allen could be heard yelling, "You’re gonna die right now."

But in her opening remarks, Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Elena Tomaro pointed to a different moment in the video evidence seeming to show Allen smirk as he sat in a chair next to Hahn’s battered body at exactly 6 a.m. Hahn could be heard straining to keep breathing through a plastic bag Allen had tied over his head.

Lisa Labriola, the research analyst for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office who made the 58-minute compilation of video evidence shared for the jury Thursday, testified that she highlighted that portion of the video because she noticed the "smile" on Allen’s face.

Tomaro said that moment shows Allen expressing pleasure.

"A very peaceful kind of face," Tomaro told the jury. "A look that one might have when you’re sitting on your back deck in the morning enjoying the sounds of birds."

Six minutes later, Allen returned with a filet knife and ended his friend’s life by repeatedly cutting at his throat as he lay just below one of the surveillance cameras.

At one point as he stood over Hahn, Allen said, "What you did to me ... you made me suffer."

Those final moments capped a six-hour beating that began at midnight, when Allen repeatedly struck Hahn with an aluminum baseball bat inside his home, the sounds of the attack captured on a surveillance microphone outside.

The audio in the moments before the beating is mostly indiscernible, but Allen could be heard telling his friend he loved him and never meant to hurt him in the past. Text messages shown to the jury indicated the men were estranged over a financial dispute but had agreed to get together that night to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting in Manorville before ending up at the brewery.

Allen continued the beating in front of the camera on the back deck, repeatedly striking his nearly unconscious friend in the head dozens more times.

One juror covered her face with her hands as the beating played out on monitors in the jury box. Others tucked their chins into their shirts, straining to keep watching.

Most of Hahn’s family cleared out of the courtroom before the video evidence played. Allen put his face in his hands and appeared to cry as some of the more violent parts played.

Hahn can be seen in the video trying to move away from the back deck, where Allen dragged him face down at 12:21 a.m.

At 3:18 a.m. Hahn reaches his arm up as if to grab something to support his weight. He moves his legs and turns over. He can’t speak, but his breathing is audible.

It's at 5:51 a.m., when the subtle movements and labored breathing don't stop, when Allen returned with the bat to continue striking him. 

The jury on Thursday also heard from a landscaper who worked weekends at the homes of Allen and his mother. The man said he did not think Allen, whom the video evidence showed buying two rounds of beer at the brewery, was intoxicated the morning after the killing.

Prosecutors believe Allen called the man to help him clean up the crime scene because his immigration status might prevent him from calling police.

He told the jury he did call 911 after Allen handed him bleach and towels and asked him to clean up the blood.

“’Don’t ask anything if you don’t want to have a problem with me,’" the man recalled Allen telling him.

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.