Daniel Streit.
A jury has found Daniel Streit guilty of first-degree manslaughter for stabbing Keith Wylie to death last year outside of a methadone clinic in the Hill.
The six jurors reached their verdict in Superior Court right at noon on Tuesday after deliberating for nearly five hours.
In late 2017, Streit and Wylie got into two fistfights outside the APT Foundation on Congress Avenue in the Hill, arguing over a woman. On Saturday, Oct. 7, that feuding turned deadly, when Streit pulled out a knife and stabbed Wylie 16 times. Streit then fled several blocks away, flinging off a knife and its sheath, a pair of latex gloves and a bloodied sweatshirt until cops caught up with him near Yale-New Haven Hospital.
After a weeklong trial, in which they looked over autopsy photos, heard from eyewitnesses and watched a videotaped confession, jurors found Streit guilty of first-degree manslaughter, despite his claims of self-defense.
Streit could face up to 20 years in prison when he is expected to be sentenced in two to three months.
“I’m glad, I’m glad,” Nadine Wylie, the victim’s sister, said Tuesday after the verdict. “My brother wasn’t a bully. He wasn’t that type of guy that they wanted people to think. He’d never been in trouble: He had no felonies. He was a veteran in the Navy, a good guy. I’m satisfied with their decision.”
Streit had confessing to stabbing Wylie in a statement to police captured on video and shown at the trial. (Click here to read about that.)
During the trial, Streit’s public defender sought to use Wylie’s eBay browsing history to convince jurors he presented a threat to Streit; a judge refused to allow that testimony. (Read about that here.) Streit argued he was acting in self-defense.
The case is scheduled to continue Tuesday afternoon, when Judge Elpedio Vitale will decide whether Streit is a “persistent dangerous felony offender,” an enhancement that could extend the sentence to 40 years in prison.
As Judge Vitale questioned Streit about whether he wanted to waive his right to let the jury decide, Streit asked if he could just get it over.
“We don’t have to go that far. Why waste time? I’m guilty,” he said. “You’re going to find me guilty.”
I'd like to see the media put an end to showing the photos of killers, especially the mass-murder variety. We should instead show no photo, or a photo of the victim(s), provided the surviving family approves. In fact, I'd like to see the forward-thinking NHI take the lead in this area by establishing a community of media firms who refuse to show photos of the killers.