Murder trial testimony focuses on gangs

Even before Jaquan Jones was shot through the head, there was trouble in Wyandanch between the OTOs and the Brave Hearts, two rival gangs, a woman testified Thursday in Suffolk County Court.

Jones was killed July 5, 2008, and Gabriel Hubbard, 19, of Wyandanch, is on trial, charged with second-degree murder. That day, the two gangs clashed, said Jennifer Brown, 25. Her boyfriend at the time, Anthony "Pooch" Jordan, and Hubbard were both part of OTO, or Overly Thugged Out, she said.

During questioning by Assistant District Attorney Raphael Pearl, she said Jordan initiated the confrontation by asking the Brave Hearts for a "heady," or street fight. She testified the two gangs had always fought. She said she watched the fight that day and saw Jones, also known as "Tipsy," get the better of Hubbard.

After the fight, she said Hubbard yelled, "This ---- ain't over yet."

Back at Jordan's house, she said Jordan told Hubbard, "How you going to let him do that to you? I can't believe you let this ---- pound on you."

Later, she said she heard Jordan say someone "had to lay down, or get down," meaning that someone had to die or get hurt. That night, Jones was killed.

But during cross-examination by defense attorney Jason Bassett, she acknowledged that in her original statement to police -- signed with a fake last name -- she said Jones beat up Jordan, not Hubbard, and that it was Jordan who was most upset after the fight.

She also acknowledged her own convictions for thefts, assault and menacing.

The trial stalled later in the day when another OTO gang member, Marquese King, 20, disavowed a statement he gave to police about that day and said he remembers nothing.

"I don't dwell on it," said King, who is in prison on a gun possession charge.

Pearl asked Judge Martin Efman to admit King's statement as evidence, saying King had been intimidated by Hubbard and other OTOs into not testifying truthfully. Efman said he would decide that issue Friday.