Man arraigned in fourth Connecticut murder case

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A West Haven man was arraigned this week in the shooting death of a man in a New Haven park in 2007 — the first of four homicides he is accused of committing in the past five years.

Zackery Franklin, 21, was charged with the December 2007 murder of 32-year-old Jeremiah Johnson, the New Haven Register reported. Johnson was found shot in the back at the entrance of East Rock Park in New Haven, near the Hamden line.

Franklin was already in prison on bonds totaling $5 million, accused in three separate fatal shootings in New Haven and Waterbury in 2011.

Prosecutors allege Franklin shot Ryan Barnaby on May 23, 2011, when the victim allegedly showed up to sell him a gun in Edgewood Park.

He allegedly killed a man in Waterbury in July while trying to rob him of his three-wheeled motorcycle. He also is charged with shooting to death John-Claude James of New Haven later that month during a robbery involving a gold chain.

Police said Franklin fled the state after those shootings. He was arrested in November in Virginia.

Bond in the latest case was sent at $2 million. But Franklin has been unable to post his earlier bonds, and his public defender acknowledged that he would be unable to post any bond in the most recent case.

Franklin said nothing during his brief court appearance.

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Information from: New Haven Register

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