Police: Shooter passed prison note, asked other suspect to alter story

A New Jersey man accused of shooting an alleged drug dealer during a confrontation in a Springfield apartment last month is now facing an additional felony charge.
http://eagletimes.villagesoup.com/p/police-shooter-passed-prison-note-asked-other-suspect-to-alter-story/1215955

Police: Shooter passed prison note, asked other suspect to alter story By Chris Garofolo | Jul 23, 2014 Share on facebook Share on print Share on twitter Share on email More Sharing Services 0 Courtesy of: Vermont State Police Leon Jiggetts WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — A New Jersey man accused of shooting an alleged drug dealer during a confrontation in a Springfield apartment last month is now facing an additional felony charge for attempting to get another incarcerated suspect to alter statements to police and persuade witnesses from testifying against him. Correctional officers intercepted a three-page, hand-written letter from Leon Jiggetts, 26, of Newark, New Jersey, on June 16 that they say was meant for 33-year-old Jabbar Chandler, an inmate also arrested in connection to a June 11 shooting. Jiggetts attempted to pass the note through another inmate to get to Chandler in an effort get him to say Jiggetts was not at the scene when the gun was fired. In the letter, Jiggetts provides detailed instructions to get in touch with his family members and pushes for witnesses to backpedal from their statements to get them “back on our side.” He also stresses about the possibility of spending the next 20 years behind bars. “We going to get [through] this bruh. As long as we [watch] each other back,” Jiggetts wrote. “We still got goons on the outside.” Jiggetts pleaded not guilty to the charge in a White River Junction courtroom Tuesday and will continue to be held without bail stemming from a series of felonies related to a June shooting. According to police, Jiggetts, Chandler and a local teenager — 16-year-old Brandon Adams-Smith of Chester — entered an apartment located at 47 Summer Street around 3:30 p.m. on June 11 to confront 19-year-old Joseph Atkinson reportedly over stolen heroin. Witnesses said Jiggetts shot Atkinson in the torso and held the firearm to his head. Two tenants in the apartment were also injured. The three suspects who entered the residence, as well as another Vermont teenager, are all facing felony charges as a result. Both Jiggetts and Chandler, habitual offenders with lengthy criminal records out of their native New Jersey, have been held without bail since they were apprehended. Five days after the incident, officers working at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield intercepted a note authored by Jiggetts they believe was intended for Chandler. The note has instructions in the upper left corner to rip up and flush the letter after reading. It says “the only way we are getting out of here with no jail time [is] if no one shows up to trial” and Jiggetts reports the only person who places him at the scene is Chandler. “No one said they saw me shoot tho, but everyone said I was packing,” he wrote, asking Chandler and two other outside witnesses associated with them to match up their stories by saying it was “another black guy” that looks like Jiggetts. He laments not attempting to escape to Brattleboro so he “wouldn’t get caught,” but in the same sentence says he doesn’t regret anything. “If the three of y’all do that this case will get very weak ... We could get out of this jam without doing anytime but the time we sit waiting for trial. I have no bail so I’m not going anywhere anyways,” he continued. “Bruh they offering me 20 to Life. My whole family is mad and stressing. I need y’all three to get me out of this please.” He expletively refers to the possibility of serving 20 years as stressful and at one point says “Hell no.” It concludes with the statement “No Witness No Case” and the word “FACT” written in a font size more than twice as large as the rest of the note. There is an additional page with a series of phone numbers to Jiggetts' grandmother and alleged girlfriend that he asks the receiver to write down before ripping up the letter and flushing it. Jiggetts is already facing attempted second-degree murder, as well as unlawful trespassing of an occupied residence, carrying a dangerous weapon while committing a felony, as well as assault and robbery from his role in the June 11 shooting. He also is charged with five unrelated felony counts of possessing and distributing narcotics in Brattleboro leading up to the Springfield incident.