BOSTON — A man found guilty by a federal jury in the 2019 kidnapping death of Jassy Correia is appealing his conviction, according to published reports.
Louis Coleman was sentenced to life in prison following his 2022 conviction in Correia’s death. Her body was found stuffed in a suitcase in the back of Coleman’s car in Delaware. Federal prosecutors said he kidnapped Correia outside a Boston nightclub during the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 2019, and killed her.
According to The Boston Herald, the appeal brief argues that while Coleman never contested that he caused Correia’s death, he wasn’t charged with homicide and that “The government’s kidnapping case was not strong; it was largely circumstantial.”
A large portion of the brief also claims a racial bias to Coleman’s conviction, the Boston Herald reported.
“Coleman, a Black man, asked the court to show prospective jurors a video about implicit bias and offered expert testimony describing the impact of negative police encounters on Black men,” according to the brief, which argues that the court erred in denying these motions, the Herald reported.
Prosecutors spent several weeks, including a COVID break, proving Coleman tricked Correia into getting into his car and sexually assaulted her. Correia’s body was found stuffed in a suitcase in Coleman’s car four days after she went missing.
Coleman’s defense team tried to prove there was no kidnapping, claiming Correia voluntarily went with Coleman and then it turned into a violent struggle that led to her death. Federal Public Defender Jane Peachy told Boston 25 Coleman is a young man with a good family.
“There is nothing in his history that indicated that he would have done anything like this,” Peachy said at the time of his conviction.
Coleman enticed Correia, lured her into his car, held her against her will, crossed state lines into Rhode Island and knowingly and willfully caused her death, prosecutors stated during the nearly monthlong jury trial.
The defense team showed video of Correia getting on Coleman’s back after they left the club, arguing that there was no kidnapping and that one has to be a willing participant to accept a piggy back ride. They also made several motions to declare a mistrial.
“Yes, she is dead and Mr. Coleman is responsible. We have not denied that, but he did not kidnap her,” Coleman’s lawyer told the jury during the trial.
Among the defense team’s claims were a consensual sexual encounter between the two turned violent, and that Correia was using cocaine and alcohol and could be seen acting aggressively all night. But prosecutors pointed to evidence like damage to the inside of the passenger’s side window of the car and Coleman’s injuries as indicators that Correia was fighting for her life while being strangled to death.
Correia’s father sat in court every single day.
“This is a promise I made to myself since the beginning up to the end because I was the one who brought Jassy to the United States when she was 3 years old,” Correia said following the conviction.
The Correias said at the time they are thankful the jury gave them justice, but they will never stop missing Jassy.
“I feel sad because because even with all this structure I have and justice has been made, I don’t have my daughter back,” Correia said in 2022.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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