New Haven Independent

A jury of six is set to resume deliberations Monday after failing to reach a verdict Thursday in the felony trial of former city Detective Clarence Willoughby (pictured).

Willoughby, 48, is facing charges of pilfering thousands of dollars intended for police informants while serving as a New Haven detective. Closing arguments in his trial were given on Wednesday, and on Thursday morning the jury retired behind closed doors to begin deliberations.

The four women and two men in the jury must find Willoughby guilty or not guilty separately on five counts of second-degree larceny and four counts of second-degree forgery, all felony offenses. (See previous coverage of the trial here, here, and here.)

During four and a half hours of deliberation, the jury emerged from its chamber twice to ask for testimony from the trial to be played back. Willoughby’s lawyer, attorney Norm Pattis (pictured), judged the jury’s requests to be a positive sign for the defense.

The first testimony recording requested was that of retired Detective Andrew Muro, who left the force in 2007. Out of 45 minutes of testimony, the jury was only interested in the first 15, up to the point where Muro says that he did not have a clear recollection of Willoughby handing him a form requesting money for informants.

The request in question did not have Willoughby’s signature, only his typewritten name, raising doubts about whether or not he had actually submitted the document, or if it had been done by someone else in his name.

For the jury, the key moment of the recording seemed to be the response to a question from attorney Pattis.

“Do you have a vivid recollection of Mr. Willoughby handing you the form? Yes or no,” said Pattis.

“Not vivid,” said Muro.

Later, just before 4 p.m., the jury sent a note to the judge, requesting the playback of testimony from Detective Reginald Sutton. The jury listened to the entire recordings of two separate, brief testimonies given by Sutton, in which the detective testified that he was brought on to help with the investigation of a homicide, headed by Detective Martin Dadio.

The significance of Sutton’s testimony to Willoughby’s case is that it shows that Dadio was “not even close to solving the homicide and needed Mr. Willoughby’s help,” said attorney Pattis later. This would discredit Dadio’s Wednesday testimony that he solved the homicide without the assistance of Willoughby and his supposed informant. (See background here.)

Riding the elevator down to the first floor of the Church Street courthouse after a long day of waiting, Pattis said that the jury’s two requests boded well for his client. The testimonies requested “were the centerpiece of our attack on the state’s case, so I’m optimistic.” Dearington couldn’t be reached for comment as of press time.

The courts are closed on Friday. Jury deliberation will resume Monday at 9 a.m.