Judge won't dismiss case against Lovette in murder of Duke grad student
DURHAM (WTVD) -- In day one of testimony in the murder trial of Laurence Lovette, the jury got an earful and eyeful: from graphic crime scene photos to a pillow with a bullet hole, the state began making its case against the man already serving a life sentence in the murder of another student.
What started out as a courtroom fight over newly-discovered evidence would ultimately end with the judge moving full steam ahead with Laurence Lovette's second murder trial.
"The defendant has failed to show adequate prejudice or surprise by this disclosure," Superior Court Judge Jim Hardin said during the trial.
Superior Court Judge Jim Hardin ruled Friday that defense attorneys for Laurence Lovette Jr. have failed to prove prosecutors acted improperly on evidence disclosure and declined to dismiss the case against him in the murder of Duke graduate student Abhijit Mahato.
Lovette - who is one of two men convicted of the killing of UNC student body president Eve Carson - is now on trial in the January 2008 murder of Mahato. Investigators have said Lovette robbed and fatally shot the student at his Durham apartment.
Mahato died in January 2008. Carson was abducted and murdered the following March.
Out the gate, the prosecution tried to convince the jury of 10 women and two men the shooting death of Duke student Abhijit Mahato was no robbery gone bad, but rather, deliberate premeditated murder.
"If looks could kill, from the first moment that Laurence Lovette laid eyes on Abhijit Mahato on Jan. 18, 2008, Abhijit was a dead man," Prosecutor Jim Dornfried told the courtroom.
Similar to his conviction in the 2008 murder of UNC student Eve Carson, prosecutors say Lovette made ATM stops stealing money from Mahato. They returned to his off-campus apartment where Lovette, prosecutors say, placed a pillow on display in court over his victim's head to silence the gunshot.
More than a handful of witnesses would take the stand, detailing the crime scene, giving jurors a close look at graphic photos of Mahato's lifeless body.
The chilling 911 call made by Mahato's friends would stir little emotion in Lovette, but the jury would see a hint of chivalry as he pulled out the chair for his lead defense attorney.
Lovette does not face the death penalty if he is convicted in the Mahato murder as he was 17 at the time of the killing. He is already serving a life sentence for Carson's murder after his conviction in 2011.
In 2010, Atwater pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in the Carson murder. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty.
