After a short hearing on Monday, a Superior Court judge found that there was sufficient evidence to charge 17-year-old Idris Elahi in the murder of Matthew Chew.
Monday was the second day of Elahi's probable cause hearing, which and was delayed for a week while Elahi's attorney was on vacation. No new witnesses were called, and Justice Patrick J. Clifford made his ruling after about 15 minutes.
Elahi, of 20 Home Street, is one of six people charged in the Oct. 29 murder. Marquis Singleton, 17, of 50 Mountain Ave. is also charged with murder. Brian Rabell and Tyree Bundy, both 18 and residents of 93 State Pier Road, and unrelated 17-year-olds Matias Perry of 36 Wasau Place and Rashad Perry of 281 Crystal Ave., are charged with accessory to murder.
Chew was stabbed several times while walking from his workplace at 2 Wives Pizza to his Washington Ave. apartment. He died on Oct. 30 after he being flown to the trauma center at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
The previous testimony included testimony from Bundy, Rabell, and Singleton as well as the first responders to the scene and physicians who gave Chew medical treatment. Elahi's three co-defendants said the group met at his home on the evening of Oct. 29 and decided to go beat up someone in the downtown area. Rabell and Singleton said Rashad dared Elahi to stab someone, and that Rabell and Bundy stopped them as they tried to make an oath to that effect. Singleton said Elahi had a knife when the group left, and Rabell said he saw Elahi apparently striking Chew in the abdomen after the group attacked him. Bundy said Elahi handed him a folding knife after the incident and that it appeared to have blood on it.
Assistant State's Attorney Stephen Carney said he believed the testimony and other evidence introduced, including a 911 call where Chew was heard saying he was stabbed, was enough to establish probable cause. He said the testimony about the oath and the knife supported Elahi's arrest.
Elahi's attorney, Bruce McIntyre, suggested that the evidence was not as reliable as the state suggested. He said the state could likely prove that Chew's death was caused by a group of individuals, but that it as unclear who stabbed Chew.
"I think the question is whether he [Elahi] specifically is the one who committed that particular act," said McIntyre.
Clifford said he agreed with the state's arguments, and a plea of innocent was recorded. The case will now proceed into the pre-trial stage, with Elahi's next court date scheduled for March 14.
Correction: The article originally listed Tyree Bundy's name as Tyree Perry.
