‘You’re lying’ – Crown challenges the defendant’s tale of the deadly night

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Placing his hands on the woman’s bare chest and then measuring five or six ribs, counting series of 15 compressions, each followed by three breaths, Jitesh Bhogal accurately described how he performed CPR in his attempt to revive Autumn Taggart in his room in June. 10, 2018.

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“You want this jury to believe that you performed CPR … but don’t remember what happened seconds before?” asked the Crown Attorney’s assistant, Ilana Mizel.

Bhogal testified that he could not recall many other details. He repeated earlier testimony that he also couldn’t remember exactly how he entered or left Taggart’s West Windsor apartment in the early morning darkness.

On Friday he saw Bhogal on the witness stand for the second day of questioning by the prosecution. It was the end of the fifth week of testimony before Superior Court Judge Renee Pomerance and a 14-member jury tasked with deciding whether the 31-year-old engineer is guilty of sexual assault and murder.

Bhogal confessed Thursday to killing Taggart, 31, a complete stranger, but claimed his death was “accidental” and the result of his attempt to stop her screaming as she lay in bed, confronted by an intruder.

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“Millisecond. Taggart was fighting for his life that night,” Mizel said, recalling a pathologist’s testimony that the cause of death was “suffocation and multiple blunt trauma.”

Bhogal replied, “It felt like that, yes.”

Mizel suggested to Bhogal that he was angry after they had just stolen the cocaine he had paid a couple to buy for him, allegedly the first time he had ever used the drug.

“I don’t remember anger being a predominant emotion,” he replied.

Mizel said Taggart’s screams “caught him off guard.” “I certainly came to my senses… and my memory begins for some reason. My memory starts at that point, ”Bhogal replied.

When asked if the screaming worried him that Taggart would alert the police, he replied that it was “possible that was in the back of my mind, of course. I don’t have a specific memory, so I can’t disagree. “

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Bhogal testified that he stopped covering Taggart’s mouth when she stopped screaming. “Mr. Bhogal, you covered Ms. Taggart’s nose and mouth for at least 30 seconds,” Mizel said, pointing to a pathologist’s testimony that it would take approximately 30 seconds for a person to lose consciousness. There was silence as the The prosecutor made the courtroom “look at the clock” for half a minute.

“You knew at the time, sir, that it would cause your death,” he said.

“I didn’t,” Bhogal replied. Mizel noted that the defendant was a foot taller and about 60 pounds heavier than Taggart.

“You’re lying to us about what you remember and what you don’t remember, Mr. Bhogal,” Mizel said. After a pause, the reply was, “Madame Crown, I made bad decisions that night.”

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After a bit more back and forth, Mizel said, “Even though you made a number of bad decisions that night, they were all intentional.”

Bhogal responded that those options, including buying cocaine from strangers and entering Taggart’s apartment, were “all with some intention, I suppose.”

Bhogal said he was scared after the pair of strangers who stole his cocaine were shot out of his vehicle in the parking lot of the Taggart apartment building.

“He’s lying to the jury for being scared,” Mizel said, noting that he could have left the scene at any time. Bhogal agreed that he was calling out the name of one of them at that location in the middle of the night.

Mizel asked if anything caught his eye or if he noticed someone in the windows of Taggart’s apartment building as he yelled in the parking lot outside.

“I don’t remember,” Bhogal said.

“Did someone tell you to shut up?” Mizel asked.

“I don’t remember,” Bhogal replied.

“You know what happened at Ms. Taggart’s apartment,” Mizel said. “I have a vague memory,” Bhogal replied.

Mizel’s last question to the defendant was whether he experienced “any hallucinations” that night.

“Do you like to see flying dragons? No, ”Bhogal replied.

The trial continues on Monday with the next defense witness. It will be the sixth week of the jury testimony hearing.

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