Springfield shooting suspect faces new charge

The suspect in last July’s frantic shooting in downtown Springfield was back in court Friday, charged with obstruction of justice after authorities said they deciphered his coded messages asking key witnesses to change their stories.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20130622/NEWS02/706229930

Published June 22, 2013 in the Rutland Herald Springfield shooting suspect faces new charge By ERIC FRANCIS CORRESPONDENT WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — The suspect in last July’s frantic shooting in downtown Springfield was back in court Friday, charged with obstruction of justice after authorities said they deciphered his coded messages asking key witnesses to change their stories. Terrick Craft, 29, shook his head in disgust as Judge Robert Gerety Jr. barred him from any further contact or conversations with his cousin Lamar “Bug” Carter while his cases are pending. Moments later, as he was being led away from the defense table by sheriff’s deputies for the return trip to jail, Craft turned to his wife and sister who were sitting on a bench in the courtroom. “If I’d have been white it would have been different!” he said loudly. Craft, who has had a long history of violent run-ins with police in Springfield and his home state of New Jersey, has been held for almost a year now awaiting trial on attempted second-degree murder and a slate of other charges. Prosecutors have said he tried to gun down Nick Brown, 32, at the intersection of Main and Park streets in Springfield on the evening of July 9, 2012. They have said the incident was drug/gang related and have charged Craft as a habitual offender with the intent of sending him to prison for up to a life sentence. Prison officials turned over a series of recorded phone calls to Vermont State Police detectives last July, less than a month after Craft was arrested and held pending trial. They said he could be heard trying to create a cover story for the night of the shooting. “I need ya’ll to go to the police station and get a lot of blank statements, at least 10 or 12 of them,” Craft says at the beginning of one call to his wife, according to police transcripts. Prosecutors said Craft referred to his cousin Lamar Carter by his street nickname in one conversation with his wife. “We need to get Bug to write a new statement,” Craft allegedly told his wife. “Once we get that statement it don’t make no difference what he told the ATF people, it’s two different statements (and if) they contradict each other that means neither one of his statements are good … he’s the one who can hurt us.” The next day, police said, Craft can be heard asking if his wife remembers how to read a code that he refers to at one point as “a certain writing” and “13 up and 13 down.” “What’s the letter N?” Craft asks and when his wife replied by saying “A,” Craft can be heard saying, “All right, good. You got it,” according to the transcript. At that point Craft begins reading off a series of letters, beginning with “v jnf ynlvat urer guvaxvat naq jr fubhyq…” and continuing for several minutes, the transcript said. Springfield Police Detective Mike Gilderdale said it appeared to be a simple substitution cipher and when he took a crack at it he said the message he translated read in part, “I was laying thinking we should get DJ out… get him to the pig station to fill out a statement saying he was there and saw everything…” Gilderdale said the message appears to suggest the fabrication of a story involving two “Puerto Rican killers,” one tall and skinny, who fired the shots that evening. During Friday’s hearing, Gerety also barred Craft from having any further communications with Dennis Allen of Springfield, who appeared to be the “DJ” in the coded message. Craft faces up to five additional years in prison for the felony obstruction of justice charge that has been added to the charges he is already facing.