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    Wednesday, October 30, 2024

    Judge rules Norwich murder case can move forward

    Judge Arthur C. Hadden on Monday ruled that the state had established probable cause to justify the prosecution of Atlantikh Balidemaj on the charge of murder in a fatal Norwich shooting in 2022.

    Hadden said that state prosecutors, during the course of two days of evidence at a probable cause hearing last week in New London Superior Court, had produced sufficient evidence to continue the prosecution of the case. The ruling, Haddan said, was not a determination of innocence or guilt.

    Balidemaj, 23, of Norwich, is charged in the Nov. 5, 2022, shooting death of 30-year-old Jashira Pagan, a woman who he said he met the night before her death and went back to her home. He denies shooting her and on Monday entered a not guilty plea to charges of murder, carrying a pistol without a permit and illegal discharge of a firearm.

    Balidemaj’s attorney, William T Koch Jr., had argued that the state has no evidence Balidemaj had a gun and there were no eyewitnesses to the shooting, which occurred outside Pagan’s home at the Uncas Condominiums off Route 32 in Norwich.

    Balidemaj remains held on $5 million bond and is due back in court on July 22.

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