A reputed drug dealer's motion for a new trial has been denied.
In 2011, a jury decided that Azibo Aquart should be put to death for killing three people in a drug turf dispute in 2005 in Bridgeport, federal prosecutors said.
Aquart was one of three men charged in the beating deaths of Tina Johnson, 43, James Reid, 40, and Basil Williams, 54. He was convicted in May of racketeering murder and conspiracy.
Aquart's group sold drugs at an apartment complex and Johnson was selling crack cocaine there without his permission, authorities said.
The three victims were tied up and beaten to death with baseball bats. Cases are pending against Aquart's brother, Azikiwe Aquart, and Efrain Johnson.
Azibo Aquart's motion for a new trial claimed “newly discovered evidence” that one of the government’s witnesses, “knowingly presented false testimony” during the guilt phase of his trial.
The court determined that the witnesses testimony did not constitute perjury and has no concern “that an innocent person may have been convicted.”
