Jury selection has begun in the murder trial of Hasseem Jenkins, accused of beating and kicking a Westchester County case worker when she knocked on the wrong apartment door in Peekskill last year.
Jenkins was high on PCP at the time of the attack on Maria Coto on May 14, 2024. But his lawyer, Angelo MacDonald, is expected to present a defense of involuntary intoxication, that Jenkins was unaware that a cigarette he was given was laced with the drug so could not have formed the required intent to commit the charged crimes.
The 56-year-old Coto, a senior caseworker for the Westchester Department of Social Services, was making a site visit at 900 State Street that afternoon. She mistakenly went to the apartment of Jenkins’ uncle, where Jenkins confronted Coto and began attacking her.
She managed to call 911 and ran into another apartment, where Jenkins chased her and continued the attack, stomping on her head multiple times with a heavy boot. Responding Peekskill police officers found them both there, Coto lying in a pool of blood and Jenkins with blood on his clothing and boots. He had two cell phones in his pocket, including Coto’s.
She sustained a severe brain bleed, brain swelling and multiple facial fractures and was placed on a ventilator at Westchester Medical Center. She never regained consciousness and died just over a month later on June 19.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Nadine Nagler and Kevin Jones.
Much of the beating was heard by police as the 911 call never disconnected. It will be a key part of the prosecution’s evidence along with the officers’ body-worn camera footage. There was also a lengthy recorded interrogation of Jenkins at police headquarters. In it he initially questioned what had happened and saying he didn’t remember the incident but later acknowledged some of the details of what had happened.
MacDonald said Monday, Oct. 6, he would want that recording introduced as evidence but Nagler countered that it was mostly self-serving hearsay that shouldn’t be admissible.
Westchester Judge George Fufidio said he would allow it but only if the proper foundation was laid for its admissibility. That might require Jenkins himself to testify but MacDonald said no decision has been made about whether he will.
Notable uses of involuntary intoxication defense include RFK’s daughter
MacDonald previously used involuntary intoxication as a defense in an Orange County case involving a man accused of injuring two police officers and another motorist during a high speed chase in Newburgh and Interstate 84 in December 2014. He argued that a drug was slipped into the man’s drinks at a strip club. His client was initially convicted of attempted aggravated assault and other charges in a non-jury trial and sentenced to 12 years in prison. But the conviction was overturned and he subsequently pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
The most notable use of involuntary intoxication in Westchester was by Kerry Kennedy, daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and ex-wife of Andrew Cuomo. She was charged with driving under the influence after sideswiping a truck on Interstate 684 in July 2012.
At trial two years later, Kennedy detailed how she mistakenly took the sleeping pill Ambien instead of her regular prescription medication. Jurors found her not guilty.
Jenkins faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted
Jenkins, 32, faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top charge, second-degree murder. He is also charged with first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary, third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, all felonies, and resisting arrest, a misdemeanor.
Jury selection will likely take several days, with opening statements not expected before Oct. 14.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Jury selection begins for Haseem Jenkins trial, accused of killing Westchester case worker
Reporting by Jonathan Bandler, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
